Winter Arctic Sea Ice Peaks at 7th Skimpiest on Record

The ice has likely reached an "uneventful maximum," but the long-term decline due to human-caused warming continues.

ImaGeo iconImaGeo
By Tom Yulsman
Mar 30, 2021 7:45 PMMar 30, 2021 7:46 PM
2021 Maximum Arctic Sea Ice Extent
Arctic sea ice appears to have reached its maximum extent for the year on March 21, 2021, tied with 2007 as the seventh-lowest in the satellite record. The orange line shows the median ice edge for 1981-2010. (Credit: NSIDC / NASA Earth Observatory.)

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The months-long expansion of Arctic sea ice during the brutal cold of polar winter appears to have reached its seasonal peak.

According to an announcement today by the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the maximum extent of the ice this year is about 336,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average maximum.

That extent of missing ice is about twice the size of California. And it means the maximum extent of Arctic sea ice this year is tied with 2007 for seventh lowest in the satellite record, which dates to 1979.

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