Scientists said global sea ice fell on record in February. He said it was a condition of the atmosphere contaminated by contaminants that acquire the planet.
The total ice area around the Arctic and Antarctic reached a new daily lowest stage in early February, falling below the remaining records for the month, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S) said Thursday.
“One outcome of a warm world is the melting of sea ice,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S. “The record-breaking or unrecorded low-sea ice cover on both poles has pushed the world's sea-ice cover to the lowest ever.”
The agency found that sea ice area reached its lowest monthly level in the Arctic in February, below 8% average, and in Antarctica it was under the average 26% average, at the fourth lowest monthly level in February. The satellite observations date back to the late 1970s, followed by historical observations up to the mid-20th century.
Scientists had already observed extreme thermal anomalies in the Arctic at the beginning of February, causing temperatures to rise above 20°C on average, melting above the ice threshold. They described the latest broken records as “particularly worrying” as ice reflects sunlight and cools the planet.
“The lack of sea ice means the surface of the dark ocean and the Earth's ability to absorb more sunlight, which accelerates warming,” says Mika Rantanen, climate scientist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
He added that a strong winter warming event in the Arctic in early February had prevented sea ice from growing normally. “We believe this weather event, coupled with the long-term decline of sea ice due to anthropogenic climate change, is a major cause of the lowest Arctic sea ice range on record.”
The world's sea ice ranges vary throughout the year, but usually reach annual lows in February, the summer of the Southern Hemisphere.
C3S said February 2025 was the third hottest February it has seen. Global temperatures were 1.59c higher than pre-industrial levels, the 19th month of the past 20, surpassing pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5c.
Earth observation programs such as C3S rely on reanalyzing billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations to create snapshots of climate conditions. The agency warned that margins above 1.5c could be small in months and slightly different in other data sets.
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The broken sea ice record came after it was confirmed as a Guardian analysis of C3S data, the hottest year of last year and C3S. It has been revealed that two-thirds of the world's surface was caught by the record-breaking monthly heat in 2024.
El Niño then subsided and changed to the weaker shape of its cool-shaped counterpart, La Niña. The World Weather Organization said Thursday it expects La Niña, which appeared in December, to be short-lived.
Richard Allan, a climate scientist at the University of Reading, said the long-term prognosis for Arctic sea ice is severe.
“The region continues to heat up rapidly and can only be saved by rapid and massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,” he said. “This will increase the extreme severity of the weather and limit long-term sea level rise around the world.”
