This year, the minimum Arctic sea-ice extent, at 4.33 million km², was most probably reached on 15 September (Figure 1), putting it at 7 th place in the sequence of minima since 1979. The sea ice had
The sea ice in the polar regions is an important indicator for global climate change, as the two regions are essentially our planet’s early warning system. The loss of sea ice is a direct effect of gl
After the summer minimum in the Antarctic, sea-ice growth rebounding sluggishly On 31 March 2024, the Antarctic sea-ice extent, at 4.52 million square kilometres, reached its maximum for the month of
Development in the Arctic The slight upward trend following the Arctic minimum continued in early 2024; although the sea-ice extent was below the mean value for the years 1981 – 2010 at the beginning
The Arctic sea ice is currently below the levels seen in 2022 but clearly above the record minimum from 2012. Every September, the Arctic sea-ice extent reaches its annual minimum. On 7 September the
This year, sea-ice development in the Antarctic is progressing extremely slowly and, after May, once again reached a record-low monthly sea-ice extent in June. At 11.23 million km², the monthly mean s
The further sea-ice retreat will chiefly depend on the ocean temperatures and on wind patterns, which can either condense or disperse the sea ice. As the summer draws to a close, the surface of the ce
The seasonal Arctic sea-ice retreat was quite rapid in the first week of July but slowed during the rest of the month (see Fig.1). The mean extent for July 2021 was 7.72 million km 2 . As such, it was
In September, the summer sea-ice melting ends in the Arctic. In other words, on a certain day of the month, the sea-ice cover reaches its lowest extent for the year and then begins growing again, beca
For the majority of June and at the beginning of July, the extent was below the level for the same month in the record-breaking year 2019 (Fig. 1). The monthly mean ice extent was 10.03 million km² –
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