Antarctica Had Less Winter Sea Ice in 2024 Than Any Year Except 2023
The sea ice maximum was the second lowest on record this year and the lowest last year, pointing to the influence of climate change.
Sea ice seen from NASA’s Operation IceBridge research aircraft in the Antarctic Peninsula region in 2017.
Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images North AmericaAntarctic sea ice at its annual peak this year covered the second-lowest area on record. It was just shy of last year’s record low, continuing what scientists fear is a trend caused by climate change.
The ice covered 17.16 million square kilometers (6.63 million square miles) of the Antarctic at its maximum extent on Sept. 19, according to preliminary figures released Thursday by the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Last year’s low, 16.96 million square kilometers, broke the previous record set in 1986.