According to my favorite meterologist, worldwide there is more sea ice now than there was in 1980. There is less ice around Greenland because the north Atlantic is in its multi-decadal warm phase (AMO). To counter that, the Pacific is in its multi-decadal cold phase (PDO) so the ice has increased on the Pacific side of the Arctic.
Antarctica has more sea ice now too, so again the overall amount is higher than 30 years ago.
Here are the numbers:
1980 Southern Hemisphere = 4.7 million sq km
1980 Northern Hemisphere = 15.0 million sq km
Total = 19.7 million sq km
2009 Southern Hemisphere = 5.8 million sq km
2009 Northern Hemisphere = 14.1 million sq km
Total = 19.9 million sq km
See NASA images here.
Related reading: Antarctic Ozone Hole Smaller
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