Baltic sea ice cover hits an all-time low: meteorologists

A lone man walks on the pier during sunset at the Baltic sea resort of Kuehlungsborn in 2007. The extent of ice covering the Baltic sea this winter reached an all-time low, since measurements began more than a century ago, Swedish meteorologists said.

The extent of ice covering the Baltic sea this winter reached an all-time low, since measurements began more than a century ago, Swedish meteorologists said.

"Overall, 49,000 square kilometres (around 19,000 square miles) of the Baltic sea were covered in ice compared to the usual 180,000 square kilometres," the Swedish Meteorological Agency (SMHI) said.

That was just over a quarter of the normal level, the agency said. And the the ice season had ended two weeks early, it added.

The SMHI also reported lower than normal levels of ice cover in the Gulf of Finland, and said the Gulf of Bothnia near Finland was hardly covered in ice at all this winter, apart from coastal areas.

According to agency records, the highest levels of ice cover in the Baltic came in the winter of 1986 and 1987 when 420,000 square kilometres (around 162,000 square miles) of its waters were covered.

Š 2008 AFP

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Posted by Modernmystic 05/05/08 13:53

Rank: 1/5 after 3 votes

FTA: "The extent of ice covering the Baltic sea this winter reached an all-time low, since measurements began more than a century ago, Swedish meteorologists said."

Whew for a minute I thought they actually meant that it was a true all-time low. What they mean is that for the infinitesimal time we've been keeping records it's at an all-time low.

During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum the Earth was basically ice free...so I guess this isn't an "all-time low" after all.