Antarctic sea ice 'obliterates' previous minimum record, in remarkable reverse

There is about 10 per cent less sea ice in Antarctica this year than the previous record minimum - a stunning reversal after new highs were set in 2014.

Melting moments: sheets of ice
adrift along the Antarctic coast. 

The sea ice extent around the southern continent has shrunk to 2.1091 million square kilometres on Tuesday, Jan Lieser, a sea ice scientist at the Hobart-based Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Co-operative Research Centre, said.

The area covered by sea ice has been tracking below the previous record low of 2.32 million square kilometres set in February 2011 for most of the past three weeks, and is now about 10 per cent lower. (See chart compiled by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for ice coverage.)

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Antarctic sea ice 'obliterates' previous minimum record, in remarkable reverse.”