Antarctic sea ice hits its third-lowest winter peak on record

Washington: Antarctica s winter sea ice has hit its third lowest peak in nearly half a century of satellite monitoring, researchers said on Tuesday, h...

Washington: Antarctica's winter sea ice has hit its third-lowest peak in nearly half a century of satellite monitoring, researchers said on Tuesday, highlighting the growing influence of climate change on the planet's southern pole.

Each year during the Southern Hemisphere's winter, the ocean around Antarctica freezes hundreds of miles beyond the continent, with the maximum reach usually observed in September or October, before the thawing cycle begins.

This year, the ice appeared to peak on September 17 at 17.81 million square kilometers (6.88 million square miles), according to preliminary figures by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The 2025 maximum ranks as the third lowest in the 47-year record, behind the all-time low in 2023 and the second-lowest in 2024 -- but still well below the historic normal. Senior research scientist Ted Scambos at CU Boulder told AFP that until 2016, measurements of Antarctic sea ice showed "an erratic but slight increase over time."

But "what seems to be happening is that warmth from the global ocean is now mixing into the water that's closest to Antarctica" -- meaning that climate change finally caught up with the southern continent's frozen seas.