A lone iceberg amidst sea ice along the coast east of Sermilik Fjord. Photo taken during an Operation IceBridge flight on Apr. 27, 2018. Credit: NASA/Joe MacGregor
In Brief:
The annual Arctic sea ice minimum (lowest) annual extent was the sixth-lowest on record this year, while Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest maximum ever. These both continue a long-term downward trend due to human-caused global warming.
Arctic sea ice likely reached its annual minimum extent on Sept. 19, 2023, making it the sixth-lowest year in the satellite record, according to researchers at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest maximum extent on record on Sept. 10 at a time when the ice cover should have been growing at a much faster pace during the darkest and coldest months.
Scientists track the seasonal and annual fluctuations because sea ice shapes Earth’s polar ecosystems and plays a significant role in global climate. Researchers at NSIDC and NASA use satellites to measure sea ice as it melts and refreezes. They track sea ice extent, which is defined as the total area of the ocean in which the ice cover fraction is at least 15%.
Between March and September 2023, the ice cover in the Arctic shrank from a peak area of 5.64 million square miles (14.62 million square kilometers) to 1.63 million square miles (4.23 million square kilometers). That’s roughly 770,000 square miles (1.99 million square kilometers) below the 1981–2010 average minimum of 2.4 million square miles (6.22 million square kilometers). The amount of sea ice lost was enough to cover the entire continental United States.
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Sea ice around Antarctica reached its lowest winter maximum extent on Sept. 10, 2023, at 6.5 million square miles (16.96 million square kilometers). That’s 398,000 square miles (1.03 million square kilometers) below the previous record-low reached in 1986 – a difference that equates to roughly the size of Texas and California combined. The average maximum extent between 1981 and 20 …
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