year mo data_type region extent area 1979 9 Goddard N 7.20 4.53 1980 9 Goddard N 7.85 4.83 1981 9 Goddard N 7.25 4.38 1982 9 Goddard N 7.45 4.38 1983 9 Goddard N 7.52 4.63 1984 9 Goddard N 7.17 4.05 1985 9 Goddard N 6.93 4.17 1986 9 Goddard N 7.54 4.66 1987 9 Goddard N 7.48 5.60 1988 9 Goddard N 7.49 5.31 1989 9 Goddard N 7.04 4.81 1990 9 Goddard N 6.24 4.50 1991 9 Goddard N 6.55 4.46 1992 9 Goddard N 7.55 5.37 1993 9 Goddard N 6.50 4.52 1994 9 Goddard N 7.18 5.08 1995 9 Goddard N 6.13 4.38 1996 9 Goddard N 7.88 5.58 1997 9 Goddard N 6.74 4.84 1998 9 Goddard N 6.56 4.24 1999 9 Goddard N 6.24 4.22 2000 9 Goddard N 6.32 4.31 2001 9 Goddard N 6.75 4.55 2002 9 Goddard N 5.96 3.98 2003 9 Goddard N 6.15 4.01 2004 9 Goddard N 6.05 4.35 2005 9 Goddard N 5.57 4.03 2006 9 Goddard N 5.92 3.97 2007 9 Goddard N 4.30 2.78 2008 9 Goddard N 4.73 2.99 2009 9 Goddard N 5.39 3.47 2010 9 Goddard N 4.93 3.07 2011 9 Goddard N 4.63 2.94 2012 9 Goddard N 3.63 2.15 Important Notes: 1) The "extent" column includes the area near the pole not imaged by the sensor. It is assumed to be entirely ice covered with at least 15% concentration. However, the "area" column excludes the area not imaged by the sensor. This area is 1.19 million square kilometers for SMMR (from the beginning of the series through June 1987) and 0.31 million square kilometers for SSM/I (from July 1987 to present). Therefore, there is a discontinuity in the "area" data values in this file at the June/July 1987 boundary. 2) When insufficient satellite data is available to process the area and extent values, the data is flagged as -9999. For more information see Processing Steps, Monthly Mean Ice Concentration in the documentation - http://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g02135_seaice_index/index.html#processingstep.