Antarctic sea ice has likely reached its minimum extent for the year, at 1.98 million square kilometers (764,000 square miles) on March 1, 2025, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2025 minimum is effectively tied with 2022 and 2024 for second lowest in the 47-year satellite record. It is 190,000 square kilometers (73,000 square miles) above the record low, set in 2023. The last four minimums have been the lowest on record.
“Antarctica seems to finally be feeling the heat,” said Ted Scambos, senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and contributor to NSIDC’s Sea Ice Today and Ice Sheets Today projects. “Sea ice loss slowed in the Southern Ocean in November and December, climbing from record-low daily levels to near average by the end of the year. Then in January and February, sea ice loss picked up pace. Warm conditions and thinner ice cover led to the summer decline and to near-record-low sea ice levels.”
“The near-surface ocean water surrounding Antarctica is warm, and the continent is warm. What this is translating into, in the past few years, is less sea ice and more snow on the continent,” Scambos added. “We’re a long way from seeing a lot of surface melting of the ice sheet—this is a very cold continent—but the warmer air, now closer to the coast because of sea ice loss, is bringing some large snowfall events. In the end, the process of ice loss is inevitable. As the continent’s coastal glaciers speed up in the warmer ocean, net ice loss will eventually rise again."
NSIDC scientists stress that the Antarctic sea ice extent number is preliminary—continued melt conditions or strong onshore winds could still push the ice extent lower.
For more details and images, visit NSIDC’s Sea Ice Today. Sea Ice Today is supported by NASA.