wrote:

Yes I know its a weather NG but be fair, others post about these
topics all the time,

Anyhow it would seem the Arctic ice extent is at its greatest on this
date for eight years!

Have a look for yourself

http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/en/home/seaice_extent.htm.

Okay there will be the 'its first year ice ' comments and such but
lets be honest about the ice, rumours of its death seem to have been
greatly exaggerated.

Take the polar bears of suicide watch.

There already has been talk about much of the ice being first-year ice.
See http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2009/040609.html

The larger extent of ice at the moment is down to recent winds blowing ice
out of the Arctic and into the East Greenland and Barents Seas. This means
there is now even less multi-year ice in the Arctic than shown by the end-
of-February maps.

Ice extent is still below the 1979-2000 average. As this average covers a
period during which the ice has been in decline, it is itself lower than a
longer-term average.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy