For the third year in a row, sea ice coverage around Antarctica has dropped below 2m sq km – a threshold which before 2022 had not been breached since satellite measurements started in 1979.
The latest data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center confirms the past three years have been the three lowest on record for the amount of sea ice floating around the continent.
Scientists said another exceptionally low year was further evidence of a “regime shift”, with new research indicating the continent’s sea ice has undergone an “abrupt critical transition”.
Antarctica’s sea ice reaches its lowest extent at the height of the continent’s summer in February each year.
On 18 February the five-day average of sea ice cover fell to 1.99m sq km and on 21 February was at 1.98m sq km. The record low was 1.78m sq km, set in February 2023.
Whether the current level represents this year’s minimum won’t be known for another week or two.
The polar regions are our global canaries in the coal mine. We ignore their warnings at our collective peril.
Climate change: ‘Ice bumps’ reveal history of Antarctic melting
“Floating shelves are to the ice sheet as flying buttresses are to buildings – they provide structural support and prop the ice sheet up.
“Pinning points increase this effect, and as contact is lost, the support weakens. So by focussing on pinning points, this beautiful study has assessed the stability of the support of Antarctica and how and where it is weakening.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-68406880
https://www.utas.edu.au/about/news-and-stories/articles/2024/good-things-dont-come-in-threes-for-antarctic-sea-ice?fbclid=IwAR0_XJdC0vIKieDR1Af_dqGKi2g8OU6FHl7nql9kaD0IZV_NbNzy7SDlCyM
“It is possible that the changes we see today on Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers – and potentially across the entire Amundsen Sea embayment – were essentially set in motion in the 1940s.”
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1035157