Link to the science release on NASA website
Arctic sea ice reached one of its lowest winter levels on record for the second year in a row, matching the record low seen in 2025.
On March 15, the ice covered about 5.52 million square miles, far below the average from 1981 to 2010 by roughly half a million square miles. Scientists say this is part of a long-term downward trend that has been observed since satellite measurements began in 1979.
In addition to covering less area, the ice is also getting thinner, especially in regions like the Barents Sea. Some areas, such as the Sea of Okhotsk, also showed low ice levels, though they naturally vary from year to year.
Sea ice extent refers to ocean areas where at least 15% of the surface is frozen. While ice expands in winter and melts in summer, less new ice has been forming in recent years, leading to a decline in thicker, multi-year ice.
In Antarctica, summer sea ice was slightly higher than in the past few years but still below average. Scientists stress that individual years matter less than the overall pattern, which clearly shows long-term changes in Earth’s polar ice.
Visualization Credit: Trent Schindler/NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio
by Busy_Yesterday9455
6 Comments
See ice?
No see ice.
Life is going to really suck for future humans, and they’re going to look back on us and curse us.
Ah shit.
Didn’t have to tell me. It reached 90°F down here in SoCal during winter. I don’t remember that ever happening in my 26 years of being here. It’s barely Spring and it feels like Summer. I’m genuinely scared of Summer.
Still looks like alot of ice lmao, but yeah