Last month, Antarctica’s sea ice hit its maximum (largest) extent towards the end of Antarctic winter; but that “maximum” was the lowest ever observed, reaching only about 17 million km2. That was over 1 million km2 than the previous record. Sea ice scientists are beginning to speak of a state change in Antarctic sea ice, due to global warming, that over the past six years has hit lows that took Arctic sea ice 40 years to reach. At the other pole, the Arctic experienced its sixth lowest summer minimum of sea ice since satellite records began in 1979. To explain these trends, their context and potential global effects, Dr. Walt Meier, Senior Research Scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), summarized these latest sea ice observations.
Video recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL4X7ploiJQ
Nature Communications, 15 December 2025 Sea-level rise along Africa’s coasts is now occurring four times…
Nature Climate Change, 9 January 2026 Warm water draining and flowing beneath ice shelves carves…
Nature Geoscience, 9 January 2026 As frozen permafrost thaws and the seasonally thawed layer deepens,…
Nature Reviews Microbiology, 5 November 2025 This review summarizes the harmful impacts of snow and…
Education is a vital lever for climate resilience. This side event presented lessons from five…
Nature Geoscience, 24 November 2025 The Prudhoe Dome ice cap in northern Greenland completely melted…