Winter sea ice in the Antarctic is at a historic low, and scientists are working to understand why an area of ice the size of Greenland is missing. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey have been active in the media offering commentary on this extreme event.
Sea ice is frozen ocean water that forms and melts entirely in the ocean, and it has a natural pattern of growth and reduction that has been monitored by satellites for 44 years. This data gives scientists a detailed picture of the area that sea ice covers surrounding the continent of Antarctica, known as the sea ice ‘extent’.
Antarctic sea ice has been quite stable in its average extent over that period – until 2016, when it began to decline. Since 2016, there have been seen several record summer lows, with Antarctic summers 2021/22 and 2022/23 setting new sea ice minimas.
At the start of August 2023, the depths of Antarctic winter, deviation from all previous records has intensified. As of August 2023, the sea ice extent is almost 2.4 million km2 lower than the 1979-2022 average – a missing area around ten times the size of the UK.
Read more at British Antarctic Survey
Image: Icebergs in the Amundsen Sea. (Photo: Pierre Dutrieux, British Antarctic Survey)