Sea Ice Today

Analyses and daily images of sea ice conditions

Data Tools

Charctic Interactive Sea Ice Graph

Plot and compare different years and ranges. Obtain daily sea ice extent values, ranges, and median values for the Arctic or the Antarctic.

Explore ChArctic now

Sea ice analysis tool

The Sea Ice Analysis Tool allows users to analyze monthly-averaged or daily sea ice extent and concentration via interactive maps. In addition, users can plot monthly ice extent anomalies, map sea ice concentration anomalies, and display images of trends in sea ice concentration, all for a variety of date, climatology, and trend ranges.

Start analyzing sea ice conditions

Sea ice extent spatial comparison tool

Spatially compare sea ice extent for any two days or months between 1979 and present.

Start comparing sea ice extent

Sea ice analysis data spreadsheets

These Excel workbooks organize Arctic and Antarctic sea ice data in spreadsheets for ease of analysis. See the “Documentation” tab in each workbook for more description, and links to more information about the workbooks. View more detailed documentation.

1. All daily (single day and five-day trailing average) extent values in one file, updated daily

Sea_Ice_Index_Daily_Extent_G02135_v3.0.xlsx

2. Monthly sea ice average extent and area, and rankings

Sea_Ice_Index_Monthly_Data_with_Statistics_G02135_v3.0.xlsx)

3. Sea ice extent and area organized by year

Sea_Ice_Index_Monthly_Data_by_Year_G02135_v3.0.xlsx

4. Minimum and maximum extent values and dates for each month and year, with rankings

Sea_Ice_Index_Min_Max_Rankings_G02135_v3.0.xlsx

5. Sea ice extent rates of change

Sea_Ice_Index_Rates_of_Change_G02135_v3.0.xlsx

6. Daily sea ice extent, by region

7. Monthly sea ice extent, by region

8. Daily sea ice extent 1981-2010 climatology

You can also access the standard Sea Ice Index data files on the Sea Ice Index Data and Image Archive page.

Sea ice animations for the Arctic and Antarctica

Animated time-series of sea ice extent or concentration averaged for a particular month. The magenta line shows the median ice edge for 1981 to 2010.

Arctic sea ice animations, 1979 to 2023

Antarctica sea ice animations, 1979 to 2023

Last updated: February 12, 2024

Sea Ice Volume

The below graph shows a time-series plot of the latest sea ice volume from the CryoSat-2 Level-4 Sea Ice Elevation, Freeboard, and Thickness data set. This graph is updated from October through March/mid-April.

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