May 18 2023:  Over the past week, the sea ice decreased by a slightly lower rate of 1.96%, from the level on 05/11/2023  of 13.042 M km² to 12.787 M km² for this week.

The negative sea ice anomaly this week was slightly higher than the anomaly of -0.403 M km² on 05/11/2023 to a lesser negative anomaly of -0.317 M km² on 05/18/2023 and so less anomalously negative for this time of year.