News Desk
COLORADO: Sea ice around Antarctica has shrunk to a record low, with scientists reporting “never having seen such an extreme situation before”.
The United States National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said Antarctica’s sea ice dropped to 1.91 million square kilometers (737,000 square miles) this week, the lowest since record-keeping began in 1979.
Sea ice likely to melt further in coming weeks
“With a couple of more weeks likely left in the melt season, the extent is expected to fell further before reaching its annual minimum,” the NSIDC said in a statement.
The previous all-time low of 1.92 million square kilometers (741,000 square miles) was set last year and wasn’t reached until February 25.
Previous records, stretching back to 1979, clearly indicate the impact of climate crisis in melting of Antarctic Sea ice.
Sea ice around Antarctica varies much more from year to year, making it harder to see the impact of global heating on it.
However, “remarkable” losses of Antarctic Sea ice in the past six years indicate that the record levels of heat now in the ocean and related weather pattern changes imply that the climate crisis is finally manifesting in the observations.
Three of the last record-breaking years for low sea-ice have occurred in the past seven years: 2017, 2022 and now 2023.
