Weather Insider: 2025 Minimum Antarctic Sea Ice Extent

The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that Antarctic sea ice likely reached its summer minimum extent on March 1st, about five days later than usual. The NSIDC monitors the extent of sea ice across the globe and estimates that the annual minimum sea ice coverage in the Antarctic was about 1.98 million square kilometers or 764 thousand square miles. That may seem like a lot, but this ties with 2022 and 2024 for the second-lowest ice extent on record.

Below is a map of the median minimum sea ice coverage and this year’s extent. This year’s extent is 860 thousand square kilometers, or 332 thousand square miles, lower than the median, shown by the yellow line. This year, however, had about 73 thousand square miles more than the record low set back in 2023.

Here’s a graph of the last 47 years of records for Antarctic sea ice extent. Interestingly, scientists describe Antarctic sea ice behavior as quote frustratingly fickle. This is because trends have been known to take big swings over the years. It’s because of this that there is still some uncertainty as to whether the recent lows are definitely a result of global warming.