This is slightly smaller than the previous record for the annual maximum \u2013 set just last year<\/a> \u2013 but it counts as a statistical tie, the NSIDC says.<\/p>\n The annual maximum is a key marker in a cycle that sees sea ice extent grow through the cold, dark winter, before melting in spring and summer to a yearly minimum.<\/p>\n The joint record marks a \u201cvery alarming\u201d winter for Arctic sea ice, Dr Zack Labe<\/a> \u2013 a scientist at Climate Central<\/a> \u2013 tells Carbon Brief.<\/p>\n And there is more \u201cgrim news\u201d, Labe says, as the thickness of the ice is near record lows \u2013 meaning that Arctic sea ice is \u201centering late winter in one of its weakest states in the satellite record\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018Unusually warm\u2019<\/p>\n The past six months has seen Arctic sea ice extent \u201cat record or near-record lows, alongside unusually warm conditions\u201d across much of the region, says Dr Lettie Roach<\/a>, a polar climate scientist at the Alfred Wegener Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n These go \u201chand in hand\u201d, Roach tells Carbon Brief, as \u201cwarmer air and ocean temperatures help melt the ice and with less ice, the ocean absorbs more heat, which further speeds up warming\u201d.<\/p>\n The chart below shows Arctic sea ice extent in 2025 (dark blue) and 2026 (red) so far. For comparison, the chart shows decadal averages (dotted lines) as well as 2012 (mid blue), the year of the smallest summer sea-ice minimum on record.<\/p>\n Recent months have seen \u201cstrong temperature contrasts\u201d over the northern hemisphere, continues Roach:<\/p>\n \u201cIn addition to large parts of the Arctic, temperatures were unusually warm in the western US, southern Europe and eastern Eurasia, while northern Eurasia, northern Canada and the north-eastern US experienced unusually cold conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s linked to a more \u2018wavy\u2019 jet stream<\/a>, which can push cold Arctic air southward while bringing warmer air into the Arctic.\u201d<\/p>\n These conditions have contributed to \u201cparticularly bad\u201d sea ice levels in regions such as the Sea of Okhotsk, Baffin Bay, Barents Sea and Kara Sea, says Labe. He adds that \u201cone of the only regions with more sea ice relative to normal is across the eastern Bering Sea around Alaska\u201d.<\/p>\n \u2018Long-term downward trend\u2019<\/p>\n This year\u2019s winter peak is the latest milestone in the \u201clong-term downward trend we\u2019ve observed\u201d in Arctic sea ice since the start of satellite observations in the late 1970s, says Roach.<\/p>\n 6According to the NSIDC, the 2026 maximum extent is 1.36m km2 smaller than the 1981-2010 average. That is \u201cequivalent to about twice the size of Texas\u201d, the centre says.<\/p>\n Arctic sea ice is \u201cnot just shrinking in extent\u201d, says Roach, it is \u201calso much thinner and more fragile than it used to be\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n Labe notes the \u201cgrim news\u201d that sea ice \u201cnear the north pole has had record-low thickness for several months now\u201d, adding:<\/p>\n \u201cIn February, total Arctic sea ice volume was the second lowest on record. Taken together, Arctic sea ice is entering late winter in one of its weakest states in the satellite record.\u201d<\/p>\n While there is a \u201clot of year-to-year variability due to natural fluctuations in the atmosphere and ocean\u201d, this long-term decline is \u201cmainly due to human-caused climate change\u201d, says Roach.\u00a0<\/p>\n Labe adds:<\/p>\n \u201cHuman-caused climate change is completely reshaping the polar environment and this is already having wide-ranging consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n The chart below shows the annual winter maxima (blue) and summer minima (red) since the start of the satellite record.<\/p>\n The chart highlights that the annual maximum has \u201cshown a relatively steady decline over the past 40 years, with the [previous] record low occurring as recently as last year\u201d, says Dr Mika Rantanen<\/a>, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is in \u201csharp contrast to the annual minimum, where the record [low] still dates back to 2012\u201d, he tells Carbon Brief. This indicates that the summer minimum is \u201cmore prone\u201d to yearly ups and downs of natural variability, he explains.<\/p>\n It is for this reason that \u201cit is still too early to say\u201d what the low winter peak means for the forthcoming summer melt season as \u201cregional weather can change quickly\u201d, adds Labe:<\/p>\n \u201cBut winter of 2025-26 is another clear signal of just how fast the Arctic is shifting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Average\u2019 Antarctica<\/p>\n At the Earth\u2019s other pole, sea ice around Antarctica has been melting through the southern-hemisphere summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n It reached its annual minimum extent of 2.58m km2 on 26 February, the NSIDC<\/a> says, placing this year as the 16th smallest on record.<\/p>\n For most of the summer, Antarctic sea ice has been \u201cbelow average\u201d, Dr Clare Eayrs<\/a>, a postdoctoral researcher at the Korea Polar Research Institute<\/a> (KOPRI), tells Carbon Brief. However, she continues:<\/p>\n \u201cThat changed in January and February, when a shift in surface winds slowed the retreat. Southerly winds over the Weddell Sea pushed existing sea ice northward, keeping coverage higher than expected in that region, while sea ice cover in the Bellingshausen Sea remained low.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n These winds were mostly \u201credistributing ice rather than new ice forming in these regions\u201d, Eayrs notes:<\/p>\n \u201cThis was enough to keep the summer sea ice coverage much closer to average than in the previous four years\u2026It is a reminder that where a season starts does not always determine where it ends.\u201d<\/p>\n Recent years have seen a series of record-low extents<\/a> in the sea ice that surrounds Antarctica.<\/p>\n While it is \u201clikely\u201d that climate change is influencing Antarctic sea ice, scientists \u201cremain uncertain about the extent and precise mechanisms involved\u201d, says Eayrs:<\/p>\n \u201cThis uncertainty is itself an important part of the story. Antarctic sea ice has always been highly variable<\/a> and its variability has masked any emerging long-term signal for much of the satellite era.\u201d<\/p>\n However, recent<\/a> research<\/a> points to a recent \u201cstructural change\u201d in Antarctica\u2019s sea ice system, Eayrs notes. This is marked by a greater persistence of low sea ice and a \u201cweaker tendency for the system to return to its earlier mean state\u201d.<\/p>\n In other words, says Eayrs, \u201cwhen sea ice drops to unusual lows, it no longer bounces back as readily as it once did\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arctic sea ice has reached its peak extent for this winter, clocking in as the joint-smallest in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[3387,40171,37926,1397,3389,90,40174,40175,177369,177370,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-505556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-arctic","tag-arctic-sea-ice","tag-climate-science","tag-environment","tag-ice","tag-science","tag-sea-ice","tag-sea-ice-extent","tag-sea-ice-loss","tag-sea-ice-minimum","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Daily](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-arctic-sea-ice-peak-tied-with-smallest-on-record-1024x583.png\")
Daily Arctic sea ice extent for 2026 and 2025, with decadal averages and the record-low year of 2012 for comparison, based on data from the NSIDC<\/a>. Chart by Carbon Brief.<\/p>\n![\"Map](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774977617_370_image-1.png\")
Map showing main regions of the Arctic. Credit: Carbon Brief.<\/p>\n![\"Annual](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/annual-max-min-extents-arctic-sea-ice-have-declined-1024x579.png\")
Annual winter maxima and summer minima for Arctic sea ice extent through the satellite record (1979-2026), based on data from the NSIDC<\/a>. Chart by Carbon Brief <\/p>\n