Warm July shrinks Arctic ice
The Arctic sea ice hit the lowest monthly recorded level for July in more than three decades of record-keeping, while the globe experienced its seventh warmest July since record keeping began in 1880, U.S. researchers reported Monday.
Sea ice covered an average of 8 million square kilometers during July, the lowest measurement for that month since the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration started keeping track of those figures in 1979. The figure is 81,000 square miles smaller than 2007’s previous July record low and about 22 percent below the average for the month, NOAA reported.
The average Arctic sea ice extent during July was 21.6 percent below average, ranking as the smallest July extent since satellite records began in 1979. The extent was 210,000 square kilometers below the previous July record low, set in 2007.
The average global temperature for July 2011 was the seventh warmest on record for that month - nearly 16.4 C, which is about 0.6 C above the 20th century average.
Warmer-than-average conditions occurred across Northern Europe, western and eastern Russia, and most of North America. Cooler-than-average regions included central Russia, Western Europe, much of the western United States, and southwestern Canada, NOAA reported.
