Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Annual Low
According to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Data Data Data Data Data Data Data, the end of summer in the northern hemisphere, the extent of sea ice in the Arctic decreased at least annual on September 10, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Total sea ice coverage was tied with 2008 for the 10th lower ever recorded at 1.78 million square miles (4.60 million square kilometers). In the southern hemisphere, where winter ends, the Antarctic ice still accumulates but remains relatively low compared to the ice levels recorded before 2016.
The ice areas covering the oceans with the poles fluctuate through the seasons. The ice accumulates when seawater freezes during the colder months and melts during the hottest months. But the ice never disappears entirely to the poles. In the Arctic Ocean, the area that the ice covers generally reaches its annual minimum in September. Since scientists from NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) began to follow sea ice in the Poles in 1978, the extent of sea ice has generally decreased as global temperatures increased.
“While this year’s sea ice area has not put a record level, this is in accordance with the downward trend,” said Nathan Kurtz, chief of the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The Arctic Ice reached its lowest recorded extent in 2012. The scientist Ice Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center of the University of Colorado, boulder, attributed which records low to a combination of a warming atmosphere and unusual weather conditions. This year, the annual drop in ice initially resembled changes in 2012. Although the merger decreased in early August, it was not enough to change the downward trend from one year to the next. “Over the past 19 years, the minimum ice coverage in the Arctic Ocean has fallen below the levels before 2007,” said Meier. “It continues in 2025.”
Antarctic sea ice near the maximum annual
While ice in the Arctic reaches its annual minimum, sea ice around Antarctica is approaching its annual maximum. Until recently, ice in the ocean around the South Pole was more resilient than sea ice in the north, maximum coverage increasing slightly in the years preceding 2015. “This year seems lower than the average,” said Kurtz. “But the Antarctic System as a whole is more complicated”, which makes the forecasting and understanding of sea ice trends in Antarctica more difficult.
It is not yet clear if the cover of the lower ice in Antarctica will persist, said Meier. “For the moment, we monitor it” to see if the lower sea ice levels around the South Pole are there to stay or part of a passage phase.
A history of monitoring world ice
For almost five decades, NASA and Noaa rely on a variety of satellites to build a continuous sea ice record, starting with the NASA Nimbus-7 (1978–1987) satellite and continuing with the Sensor MICROWAVE / IMAGER SENSOR and the microwave imagery of SENSE The Aqua satellite of NASA also brought data from 2002 to 2002 2011. Scientists extended data collection with the 2012 launch of the advanced Radiometer with 2-wave 2-wave 2 on board a JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) satellite.
With the launch of ICESAT-2 in 2018, NASA added the continuous observation of the thickness of the ice to its recording. The ICESAT-2 satellite measures the height of ice by recording the time necessary for the laser light of the satellite to reflect on the surface and return to detectors on board.
“We have reached 47 years of continuous surveillance of the world extent of satellite sea ice,” said Angela Bliss, deputy chief of the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory of NASA. “This data file is one of the longest and most coherent existing satellite data records, where every day we look at sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctica.”
By James Riordon
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Media contact: Elizabeth VLOCK
NASA Headquarters
