Antarctic sea ice is at a record low

WINTER IS COMINGNSIDC to an end in Antarctica, while summer is wrapping up at the other end of the globe. During this time, sea ice in the south reaches its highest yearly extent, whereas in the north it drops to its annual minimum.Antarctica’s sea ice than expected in the early parts of the southern winter. As a result, despite a spurt in early September, when the sea ice grew more than twice as rapidly as is usual, the ice now falls far short of the average maximum observed at this time of year. On September 7th it covered just short of 17m sq km, according to data tracking its daily extent from America’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre (). That is 1m sq km below its previous smallest annual maximum in 1986—an area equivalent to two Spains. Meanwhile, in the Arctic, where ice has been melting during the northern hemisphere’s summer, sea ice is at its sixth-lowest level since records began in October 1978.