NASA: Arctic Melt Season Lengthening Stalled After 2010

A NASA-led study of satellite data from 1979 to 2023 found the Arctic sea ice melt season is about 40 days longer than in 1979, but most of that increase occurred before 2010. Since then the average season length has stayed fairly steady, though it still varies widely year to year.

• Arctic melt season is about 40 days longer than in 1979
• Later fall freeze-up, not earlier spring melt, drove most of the increase
• Average melt season length has changed little since about 2010
• The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average