In the polar regions, sea ice follows a distinctly seasonal cycle, and every year roughly 15 million square kilometres of ice are formed and melt in the Antarctic. But this winter, the ice growth has
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 annual development of the sea-ice extent is one of the most important parameters for describing the seasonal progression of sea-ice development. It is particularly relevant when combined and compa
After the Antarctic sea-ice extent reached an all-time low in February 2023, new sea ice has only slowly formed in the months since. Particularly in the Bellingshausen Sea, uncharacteristically for th
In the Antarctic, the month of February is considered to be high summer in terms of the seasonal decline in sea-ice extent. The extent reaches its lowest point in the year, while in the course of the
“On 8 February 2023, the Antarctic sea-ice extent had reached 2.2 million km² - less than the previous record minimum from 2022. Since the sea-ice melting in the Antarctic will most likely continue in
As our colleagues at the German overwintering station Neumayer III can attest, that doesn’t necessarily mean the weather will get warmer, but at least towards the end of the month they can look forwar
In the course of the past few decades, the sea-ice extent in the Antarctic has been characterised by significant variability – both spatially and chronologically. For example, for the observational pe
If we review the sea-ice extent in the Antarctic over the past few weeks, we can see an exciting trend – and not just in our potential interpretations, but also when we compare the current situation t
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