Satellite images show that the sea-ice coverage in February was the lowest on record.
Climate change is not necessarily to blame for the variation in the amount of sea ice.
The sea-ice extent, a measurement of the ocean's sea ice, was reduced to less than 2 million square miles for the first time since 1979.
Warming global temperatures may be a factor in the variability of the sea ice. The event can be attributed to natural variability, and partly due to strong winds pushing some sea ice farther north into warmer waters, according to a senior research scientist.
Sea ice floats on the ocean. Sea ice forms on the ocean and is usually covered in snow, unlike other ice formations that break away from land. The minimum sea-ice extent is a measurement of the area of ocean that has sea ice when coverage is at its lowest for the year after the ice is melted in the Southern Hemisphere.
There are 8 famous Antarctic expeditions.
Satellite data has not been used to find a statistically significant trend in one direction or another. The lowest minimum sea-ice extent on record was recorded this year, but the highest minimum sea-ice extent was recorded in 2015.
Wind and ocean currents isolated the continent from weather patterns elsewhere on Earth, according to the NSIDC. It is better connected to other climate systems in the northern part of the planet. The warming impact of climate change is more important than the extent of the sea-ice.
Satellite images show a decline in sea-ice over the past 44 years. According to the latest data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the sea-ice extent in the northern part of the planet has declined by 703,000 square miles. Alaska has over one million square miles of land, which is more ice than there is.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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