(Zachary Labe is a climate scientist, Eliot Jacobson is a professor of mathematics)
My impression:
Ice extent is far below normal, 2023 is the worst year on recent record.
Ice volume has not responded dramatically yet (it has inertia) and there exists a year on recent record worse than 2023 - but it will respond soon enough.
Overall, I’m not sure if plotting a graph with standard deviations as the unit of measure is a good choice. It helps shake people up from sleep - yes. You typically look for standard deviations to determine if something is happening - and 6 deviations is considered solid proof. But to examine the quantity of ice, you measure square and cubic kilometers.
Looks bad. I also suggest looking here for better context:
https://zacklabe.com/antarctic-sea-ice-extentconcentration/
(Zachary Labe is a climate scientist, Eliot Jacobson is a professor of mathematics)
My impression:
Ice extent is far below normal, 2023 is the worst year on recent record.
Ice volume has not responded dramatically yet (it has inertia) and there exists a year on recent record worse than 2023 - but it will respond soon enough.
Overall, I’m not sure if plotting a graph with standard deviations as the unit of measure is a good choice. It helps shake people up from sleep - yes. You typically look for standard deviations to determine if something is happening - and 6 deviations is considered solid proof. But to examine the quantity of ice, you measure square and cubic kilometers.