February 1, 2024:  The  sea ice has actually decreased this week, and at a rate of 0.36% (from last week’s growth rate of 0.81%), from the level on 01/25/2024 of 14.274 M km² to 14.222 M km² for this week.  A tad bit early for the start of sea ice retreat season, and so not sure if this is just a minor anomaly, or if there is something more significant going on, but it should be interesting to watch in the coming weeks.

The negative sea ice anomaly this week was greater than the anomaly of -0.038 M km² on 01/25/2024 to a more negative anomaly of -0.308 M km² on 02/01/2024, and so more anomalously negative for this time of year.