Over the last two years, Arctic sea ice has closely tracked 2006.
This is due to the large increase in old/thick ice which has occurred since 2011. Older ice is much harder to melt in the summer, so there is less fluctuation between winter and summer.
The sea ice area anomaly graph has flatlined over the past 10 years.
Arctic sea ice is recovering, because the winds which had been pushing the old/thick ice out of the Arctic Basin are not as strong as they were during the previous 15 years.
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