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Zack Labe

@zacklabe.com

41K followers 1K following 3.7K posts

Climate Scientist at @climatecentral.org | PhD | Passionate about improving science communication through data-driven stories | Harrisburg, PA | https://zacklabe.com/ Views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are only my own.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · Nov 30

🧵 Looking for (polar) climate data visualizations? Start here! 📈📉🧪⚒️🌊

+ Polar climate change: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
+ Global climate change indicators: zacklabe.com/climate-chan...
+ #Arctic sea ice extent: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...
+ #Antarctic sea ice: zacklabe.com/antarctic-se...

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Reposted by Zack Labe

Shel Winkley @shelwinkleywx.bsky.social · 12h

Water is vital, but unevenly distributed. Our changing climate is amplifying both extremes of the water cycle.

A warmer atmosphere is a thirstier atmosphere.
Flash droughts set in faster...and they are increasingly harder to get out of.

www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt...

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 20h

Here's a closer look at the record low sea ice conditions around #Svalbard. The ice edge is still close to the 85°N line of latitude along the Atlantic front. That's a lot of open water into the Barents Sea region! Data from AMSR2.

Graphic showing Arctic sea-ice concentration on 10/13/2025 near Svalbard, Greenland, and Novaya Zemlya. A line of 85°N latitude is also annotated along with the Atlantic Ocean.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 1d

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Climate Central @climatecentral.org · 1d

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 1d

Monday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 10th lowest on record (JAXA data)

• about 120,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,440,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,540,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 3,080,000 km² below the 1980s mean

More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Line graph time series of 2025's daily Arctic sea ice extent compared to decadal averages from the 1980s to the 2010s. The decadal averages are shown with different colored lines with purple for the 1980s, blue for the 1990s, green for the 2000s, and white for the 2010s. Thin white lines are also shown for each year from 2000 to 2024. 2025 is shown with a thick gold line. There is a long-term decreasing trend in ice extent for every day of the year shown on this graph between August and November by looking at the decadal average line positions.

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Reposted by Zack Labe

CNBC @cnbc.com · 1d

NASA unit JPL to lay off about 550 workers, citing restructure

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a research and development lab funded by NASA — the federal space agency — and managed by the Caltech.

cnb.cx

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 1d

In contrast to the other side of the #Arctic, sea ice along the Atlantic front is a record low for this time of year. This relates to the recent record warmth and southerly winds/waves pushing the marginal ice zone closer to the North Pole.

Data from @nsidc.bsky.social (nsidc.org/data/seaice_...).

Graphic showing a line graph time series of daily Arctic sea ice extent in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic (Greenland + Barents + Kara Seas) for each year from 1979 to 2025. This year is shown in red. Purple to white color shading is used for each other year's line. There is a long-term decreasing trend for every day of the year.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

Substantial losses of #Arctic sea ice concentration are found in October. The largest declining trends extend from parts of the East Siberian Sea to the Chukchi Sea.

Sea ice concentration = fraction of ice-cover. More info on recent Arctic climate: doi.org/10.1175/BAMS...

Graphic showing a polar stereographic map of October 2024 Arctic sea ice concentration anomalies with anomalies from -50% in red shading to +50% in blue shading. More areas are below normal than above normal.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

This sea ice data is not “volume” or “thickness”

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

Yes, it is provided in the link I shared above and updated through August 2025.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

That is a different dataset and does not offer "thickness" and "volume"

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

Yep, just about every summer now since 2022

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

No, these sources do not provide that data in the month of September

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

Unfortunately still no #Arctic sea ice thickness and volume update for the month of September on my website... data issues from the U.S. government shutdown

PIOMAS notice: psc.apl.uw.edu/research/pro...

Screenshot that says "August 2025 Monthly Update [September update delayed due to US Govn’t shutdown resulting in unavailable data]"

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

Temperatures were warmer than 5°C above the 1981-2010 average in September 2025 across northern Canada and into the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The southern route of the Northwest Passage was ice-free and open for transit this past melt season.

Data freely available from doi.org/10.24381/cds...

Regional map of the Canadian Arctic showing September 2025 temperature anomalies. Most areas are warmer than average northeast of Hudson Bay. Anomalies are calculated to a 1981-2010 baseline with red being warmer than average, and blue being colder than average.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

I do some! But the area is further outside from the focus of my research.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 2d

Thank you!

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 3d

September #Arctic sea ice extent since the year 1850 - comparison now updated through 2025

I have a couple of other sea ice reconstructions on my website too: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Line graph time series of September Arctic sea ice extent for every year from 1850 through 2025. Two datasets are compared in this time series. The Walsh et al. 2019 reconstruction is shown with a solid blue line. The NSIDC Sea Ice Index v3 is shown with a dashed red line only for the satellite era. There is large interannual variability and a long-term decreasing trend over the last few decades.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 3d

Here is a closer look at the record low #Arctic sea ice around Svalbard currently. This coincides with the record warmth as well (check out my earlier post). Earlier last week temperatures in parts of Svalbard were more similar to July than October.

Graphic produced by cryo.met.no/en/sea-ice-i...

Line graph time series of Svalbard sea ice area for 2025 compared to 2012 2020, and the 1981-2010 average with percentiles shown. There is a large seasonal cycle.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

Record high temperatures are currently being set across the northernmost portions of the #Arctic. In fact, it is effectively ice-free on the Atlantic side of the Arctic all the way up to about 85°N latitude! This includes record low sea ice around Svalbard.

Graphic by zacklabe.com/arctic-tempe...

Line graph time series of 2025's daily 2-m temperature in the Arctic compared to each year from 1958 through 2024. There is a long-term warming trend for every day of the year. There is also large interannual variability and a clear seasonal cycle.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

I only have annual changes in rainfall globally, but not for each individual month: zacklabe.com/climate-chan...

Climate change indicators

All data are referenced at My visualizations: Arctic Climate Seasonality and Variability Arctic Sea Ice Extent and Concentration Arctic Sea Ice Volume and Thickness Arctic Temperatures Antarctic Se…

zacklabe.com

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Reposted by Zack Labe

Federal Worker Rights @fedworkerrights.bsky.social · 4d

"[A]n administration official granted anonymity to discuss the layoffs said they hit agencies including: Interior, Homeland Security, Treasury, EPA, Commerce, Education, Energy, HHS and HUD."

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

The very tiny white lines are for each year, but the solid colors are decadal averages. Those averages smooth out the bumps visible in an individual year.

Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

Friday ice update - #Arctic sea ice extent is currently the 11th lowest on record (JAXA data)

• about 20,000 km² below the 2010s mean
• about 1,300,000 km² below the 2000s mean
• about 2,400,000 km² below the 1990s mean
• about 3,040,000 km² below the 1980s mean

More: zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

This morning was the first frost and freeze for many across the Northeast. As a snow/winter fan, I am very excited! 🥶

Check out @climatecentral.org's latest analysis this week on how the first freeze is getting later due to climate change across CONUS: www.climatecentral.org/climate-matt...

Map showing the average first freeze date across the contiguous United States. Data is from RCC ACIS, and the graphic was created by Climate Central.

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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 4d

Temperatures begin rapidly falling across the #Arctic with the onset of the cold season. My graphics have just been updated for September 2025, with near-record high temperatures around the Atlantic sector region.

➡️ Check it out: zacklabe.com/arctic-tempe... #DataViz #SciComm #OpenScience #OpenData

Arctic Temperatures

Near real-time visualizations [Arctic Climate Seasonality and Variability] [Arctic Sea-Ice Extent and Concentration] [Arctic Sea-Ice Volume and Thickness] [Arctic Temperatures] [Antarctic Sea-Ice E…

zacklabe.com

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