Polar ice declines: Arctic, Antarctic ice drop-off continues

The sea ice conditions in the Arctic and around Antarctica continue to hit record lows, new data shows.

Antarctica ended its summer with lower annual extent, 30 percent lower than the 1981-2010 end of summer average. The difference in ice cover loss is the size of Texas, NASA says.

This is part of a three-year streak of lowest summer ice coverage that hasn’t been seen in the 40-plus years of satellite data.

On the flip side, the Arctic just completed its winter with the 14th lowest winter ice extent on record. The NASA data says the winter ice accumulation shrinkage since 1979 is equivalent to the size of Alaska, the U.S. biggest state.

Climatologists are concerned about the sea ice in both polar regions. Sea ice reflects solar energy back to space. However, with less sea ice in summer months, the energy normally reflected into space is absorbed by the bare ocean, increasing water temperatures.

Satellite data also shows the sea ice that develops during winter isn’t as thick as the previous season’s ice. This increases the likelihood of the ice not surviving the summer thaw and having a chance of becoming multi-year thick ice that reflects the summer rays.