New Study Details Massive Recent Sea Ice Expansion And Cooling in The Greenland Sea

Scientists (Yilgan and Jónsdóttir, 2026) report annual mean sea ice extent in the Greenland Sea was 8.4 times greater in 2023 (2,403.6 km²) than in 2019 (287.6 km²).

In the month of January, the sea ice extent was 6.4 times larger in 2024 (20,308 km²) than in 2017 (312 km²).

Hand-in-hand with the recent sea ice expansion, the region has experienced a short-term 1°C cooling from 2016 to 2024.

Image Source: Yilgan and Jónsdóttir, 2026

The recent trend for the Greenland Sea appears to be consistent with the trajectory enveloping much of the Arctic since the mid-2000s as reported by England et al., 2025.

“Over the past two decades, Arctic sea ice loss has slowed considerably, with no statistically significant decline in September sea ice area since 2005.”

Image Source: England et al., 2025

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oeman50

August 14, 2026 6:03 am

A sure sign of climate change.

All changes are due to climate change.

strativarius

August 14, 2026 6:24 am

Must be that blocking jet stream? If it keeps the warmer air south of it….

Tom Abbott

August 14, 2026 6:41 am

Yes, and the air temperatures have cooled by about 0.5C since early 2024. See the UAH chart in the sidebar.

Maybe we have a trend.

Wouldn’t you love to see another 1.5C of cooling?! That would be equivalent to the cooling that took place from the 1930’s to the 1970’s, when climate scientists were starting to worry about another ice age coming.

That would sure shut the climate alarmists up! WUWT could shut its doors!

And if we were to get another 1.5C of cooling, don’t worry about it. The 1970’s were a pleasant period of time weather-wise, even though the temperatures had cooled. The cooling looked potentially scary on paper, but if you were not paying attention, you would not notice any big changes in the weather. You might get a strong snow storm out of it, but that would be the extent of it.

Yes! I would love to hear the climate alarmists when the trend turns down. I’m patiently waiting. 🙂