Antarctic sea ice hits record high in September

US space agency NASA has revealed that the Antarctica sea ice has hit the record levels in September for the first time since 1979.

According to the scientists, the five-day average of the Antarctic sea ice extent was last month found exceeding 20 million square kilometers stretch for the first time since 1979.

On September 19, the National Snow and Ice Data Center recorded sea ice surrounding Antarctica region and found that it reached a new record high extent as it covered most of the southern oceans than it has since late 1970s when the scientists first began using a long-term satellite record in order to map sea ice extent.

The scientists, however, said that Antarctic’s upward trend is only about a third of the magnitude of the rapidly losing Arctic Ocean sea ice.

The new record set by the Antarctic sea ice clearly depicts the diverse and complex environment of the Earth, NASA researcher Claire Parkinson said.

According to Parkinson, as temperatures on the Earth varies in different regions from colder and warmer than average, sea ice of the Antarctic region has been increasing and bucking the overall ice loss trend.

Parkinson further added that the Earth as a whole is doing what was expected in context of warming. The overall sea ice level is declining as expected. Even though, not every sea ice location will follow a downward trend in ice extent.

The Antarctic sea ice extent on September 19 exceeded 7.72 million square miles (20 million square kilometers) for the first time ever since 1979, the National Snow and Ice Data Center report showed. The scientists also found that the sea ice extent remained above this benchmark extent for several days. According to the report, the average maximum extent was 7.23 million square miles (18.72 million square kilometers) between 1981 and 2010.

According to NSIDC report, the single-day maximum sea ice extent for 2014 was recorded 7.78 million square miles (20.14 million square kilometers) which reached on September 20.

Moreover, the five-day average maximum extent for this year was reached on September 22 when the sea ice expanded to cover 7.76 million square miles (20.11 million square kilometers).

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Christina Langfold

Remember that weird girl in school who never quite managed to fit in? Who was always silent and strange? That was me during my entire teenage life. A few years after finishing college (with a degree in arts) I decided that the best way to become more sociable, while also feeling safe, is to test my people skills online.