Antarctic sea ice hit a stunning record-low minimum at the end of February, dropping below 772,000 square miles for the first time since satellites began observing the southern continent more than 40 years ago.
A study published yesterday in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences points to a perfect storm of factors that sent Antarctic sea ice spiraling downward in the past year. Some involve natural climate cycles—while others may be influenced by human-caused climate change.
Sea ice was thinner than normal to begin with in parts of the Southern Hemisphere in 2021. It also began melting earlier than usual at the start of the Antarctic spring in September. On Feb. 25 of this year, near the end of the Antarctic summer, the sea ice hit its record low at 1.9 million square kilometers .
These trends have perplexed Antarctic scientists, who are still debating the exact causes. Many experts believe natural climate cycles have probably played a large role. Unlike the Arctic, where warming has had a clear and devastating long-term influence on sea ice, conditions are more complicated in the Antarctic. The Southern Ocean is much more vulnerable to the impacts of other natural climate fluctuations, which don’t always have the same kinds of effects as human-caused warming.
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