Does the recent increase in Arctic sea ice extent mean anything?

The problem is that the volume is going down, extent can grow in a cold winter, like the one experienced back in February but this thin ice will melt quickly when it moves back into summer.

http://www.skepticalscience.com/Has-Arctic-sea-ice...

This extent is sea ice created since the end of February when the Sun starts to warm the area up again it will disappear just as quickly.

The arctic has been getting smaller for at least 30 years and a winter storm front is not really going to have much of an effect on that.

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/n_plot_h...

Well, if want to look at what causes sea ice extent, then the theory is correct. A warmer planet will cause greater sea ice extent because ice will not able to form itself into large volumes due to more heat. But shhh, don't tell the denial brigade about volume. That'll be too much for the theor brains to absorb.

The thawing and freezing of Artic sea ice is an annual event – it thaws in the summer months and freezes in the winter ones. This year the ice reached it’s maximum on 31st March when it covered some 14.407 million km².

Earlier this year we had weather event that saw an area of unusually cold Arctic air become firmly established over the Arctic region. It was this event that led to the heavy snowfalls and cold temperature in parts of the northern hemisphere. Another consequence of this unusual weather was that it allowed more sea ice to form than has been the norm in recent years.

With the onset of summer, the ice is once again retreating and as of yesterday the extent of the ice had receded to 13.414 million km² - a reduction of approx one million square kilometres in the last 4 weeks, somewhat more than average but not exceptional.

This graph shows the extent of the sea ice in recent years http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent... and this one shows how Arctic ice extent has significantly decreased in recent decades http://nsidc.org/sotc/sea_ice.html

You can see clearly from the second graph that the general trend is a downward one with short term variations. The recent upturn was caused by an event in the Pacific Ocean called La Nina, this affects the way the ocean currents flow (oscillations) and leads to short term cooling on a global scale.

The converse of La Nina is El Nino and we have now entered an El Nino phase and as such this year may well be the hottest on record and Artic sea ice will almost certainly diminish to a record or near record low.

A good site to observe what’s happening in the Arctic (and Antarctic) is Cryosphere Today http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

An interesting point to note is that the dramatic reduction in sea ice extent in recent years, most notably in 2007 and 2008. Because of these record lows, the new ice that forms in it’s place is only one or two seasons old. Add to this the fact that the ice forming season is getting progressively shorter and the result is that the ice cover is now considerably thinner than it used to be. In the past the sea ice would typically have been 5 metres thick but today much of it is only 3 metres thick.

No. The increase in ice area is just temporary, due to seasonal weather.

"The late date of the maximum extent, though of special interest this year, is unlikely to have an impact on summer ice extent. The ice that formed late in the season is thin, and will melt quickly when temperatures rise."

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

As NSIDC notes, this new ice is very thin. As you can see here, the Arctic sea ice volume is still at a very low level and continues to decline.

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/ArcticSeaiceVolume/i...

This single season? No. Over the past several years? Yes. The arctic ice has recovered to normal levels. The arctic ice minimum has been growing by 250,000 square miles per year since reaching a low in 2007. This proves any claims of new ice or thinning ice false. Otherwise the minimum would be negative and not a positive 250k square mile annual increase.

Arctic sea ice extent used to mean everything. It was the "canary in the coalmine." Now it means nothing, because Arctic sea ice is increasing.

The reality is that yes, polar ice extent is driven in large part by wind patterns, which change over months, years, even decades.

But that was true when Arctic sea ice extent was decreasing.

Over much longer timeframes, global temperature obviously affects the size of the ice caps - - 20,000 years ago the Arctic ice cap extended to what is now the NY/PA border, for example.

I'd also point out that the notion that "it's still thinning" is not accurate. The AVERAGE thickness is declining - because new ice is thinner. The average thickness always declines when the sea ice extent increases, for this very reason.

Lastly, I wonder how it's unusual to have Arctic air over the Arctic region....

It means their was a significant arctic oscillation event that led to more ice.... in AREA ONLY. The mass of ice continued to decrease by a dramatic amount. The ice is getting thinner, and younger with every passing year.

Though it has given denialists some more lies to spread.

Yes, It means that Al Gore will have fewer speaking engagements and.... if this sea-ice trend continues.... it also means that thousands of self-proclaimed so-called scientists like Michael 'Hockey-stick' Mann, Phil Jones and James Hansen..... will have to find REAL jobs.... "gulp".... and maybe even have to work in the Private Sector!!!

As the Earth's Cooling Trend continues, the gravy train of government welfare/grants will eventually dry up.

there is no increase in arctic ice

Yes: it means the world is getting warmer because of mankind, same as:

It's getting hotter=AGW

It's getting colder=AGW

It's raining=AGW

It's not raining=AGW

More ice at both Poles=AGW.

Less ice somewhere=AGW

Sea level rising=AGW

Sea level going down=AGW

Polar bears dying=AGW

Polar bear population increase of 500%=AGW

Cold winter=AGW

Warm winter=AGW

Barbecue summer=AGW

No Barbecue summer (Met Office got it wrong)=AGW

What utter tosh it all is.