Antarctic sea ice levels are at a “mind-blowing” record low for winter, scientists have revealed.
The ice surrounding Earth’s southernmost continent now measures less than 17 million square kilometers (6.5 million square miles), according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center.
This is 580,000 square miles (1.5 million square kilometers) less than the September average and is equivalent to five times the size of the British Isles.
Researchers have already revealed that Antarctica’s ice during this year’s southern hemisphere summer was the lowest on record.
Less sea ice can threaten the habitats of penguins, seals and other Antarctic animal species, and also contributes to global sea level rise.
Antarctic sea ice levels are at a “mind-blowing” record low for winter, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center have revealed. The graph shows the current sea ice area compared to the average for this time of year.
“It’s so far from anything we’ve seen, it’s almost mind-blowing,” said Walter Meier, senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. BBC.
Antarctica, the world’s southernmost continent, is an ice-covered landmass in the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean).
Although Antarctica is a land mass, the seawater surrounding the continent is also frozen, making the continent appear larger than it actually is.
This sea ice extends from the far north in winter and retreats almost to the coast each summer as temperatures rise and fall.
The amount of ice surrounding Antarctica is known as “sea ice extent.”
Climate scientists constantly track sea ice extent throughout the seasons and compare its size to the same months in previous years to see how it is changing.
They believe that Antarctic sea ice is vitally important because it reflects sunlight, which helps keep the polar regions cool.
Without this ice cover, dark areas of the ocean are exposed, absorbing sunlight instead of reflecting it, which in turn warms the region and further accelerates ice loss.
As in the Arctic, the ocean surface around Antarctica freezes in winter and melts each summer. Antarctic sea ice (pictured) typically reaches its annual maximum extent in mid to late September, and reaches its annual minimum in late February or early March.
Of course, melting ice contributes to rising sea levels, which scientists fear could lead to flooding in major cities around the world this century.
Antarctic sea ice typically reaches an annual maximum at this time of year (the Southern Hemisphere winter) due to frigid temperatures and nearly 24 hours of darkness.
Meanwhile, in the southern hemisphere winter (December to February) Antarctic sea ice is minimal, known as the “melt season.”
Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center have recently shown that sea ice extent is below average since records began, regardless of the time of year.
It revealed that in February there were only 737,000 square miles (1.91 million square kilometers) of ice surrounding the continent, the lowest level since records began.
The decline in sea ice extent is widely believed to be mainly due to the greenhouse gas effect, driven by the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and gas.
However, sea ice extent is also affected by winds and ocean currents, as well as temperature, so there is a possibility that there are other factors besides global warming.
But according to one expert, the cause of the decline in sea ice extent is not as important as the decline itself.
Data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center have recently shown that sea ice extent is below average since records began, regardless of the time of year.
In February, data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center revealed that there are only 737,000 square miles (1.91 million square kilometers) of sea ice surrounding Antarctica. In the photo, concentration of sea ice in Antarctica on February 13, 2022.
“The bottom line is that we don’t know for sure [the cause] – the Antarctic system is complex and poorly sampled,” Professor Martin Siegert, a glaciologist at the University of Exeter, told MailOnline.
‘It would be nice to have a definitive answer, but it doesn’t really matter much.
“We certainly can’t afford to attribute it to variability as an excuse for not stopping the burning of fossil fuels; that would be crazy.”
Rapid warming has already caused a significant southward shift and contraction in the distribution of Antarctic krill, a keystone species, activists said.
A recent Greenpeace expedition to Antarctica also confirmed that gentoo penguins are breeding further south as a result of the climate crisis.
