Antarctic sea ice has shrunk to record levels (Juan BARRETO) (Juan BARRETO/AFP/AFP)
By AFP - Agence France Presse
Antarctic sea ice recovers from record low: US scientists
Antarctic sea ice recovered in December after a long period of record lows, US scientists said, giving pause to speculation that the Earth's icy continent could be undergoing a permanent change.
The rate of sea ice loss during the warmest months of spring, November and December, slowed to well below average, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said in a statement on Tuesday.
This followed an “extended period of record and near-record daily lows” in 2023 and 2024, the warmest years in history in terms of global temperature rise caused by climate change.
By the end of 2024, Antarctica's sea ice extent had recovered to 7.3 million square kilometers (2.8 million square miles) - very close to the 1981 to 2010 average, the NSIDC said.
This erased the record and near-record low expanses of October and November, it added.
“This clearly illustrates the high variability of Antarctic sea ice extent,” the NSIDC said.
Ocean temperature records - both on the surface and in the depths - have fallen since 2023, driven in part by the El Niño phenomenon, which has raised heat around the world.
Since mid-2016, scientists have been concerned that global warming may be triggering more lasting changes in the amount of sea ice forming on the world's coldest continent.
The NSIDC said that this “regime shift idea” has mainly taken hold following a persistent period of below-average sea ice and “dramatic” or near-record highs in 2017, 2023, and 2024.
“The recent slowdown in extent loss in December gives some pause to this idea,” he said, although he warned that the one-month recovery was not enough to completely contradict the theory.
In general, sea ice concentrations in Antarctica remain “generally low over large areas of the bloc”, he added.
“This, combined with indications of a warm spring with high surface melting on the continent itself, will make for an interesting next summer.”
np/phz
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