by Tracy Rogers
4-21-14
UAF Phys 212
Arctic Sea Ice Heat Flux
Sea ice heat flux is the amount of energy required to melt the ice lost between the months of maximum (April) and minimum (September) sea ice volume. This varies significantly from year to year, as both the max and min values change, but over the past 30 years, heat flux has increased due to the increased melting of ice in the Arctic:
The flux from April to September is represented by the thick line, while the regression line is represented by the thin blue line.
The mean and standard deviation of the flux were 5.1 1021 and 5.2 1020 J. 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2012 were more than one standard deviation above the mean.