2019/07/01 by Claire L. Parkinson · 769 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Antarctic sea ice #Arctic #Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics #Arctic ice pack #Arctic sea ice decline #Atmospheric sciences #Climate change and permafrost #Climatology #Cryospheric studies and observations #Environmental science #Geology #Ice-albedo feedback #Oceanography #Satellite #Sea ice
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.1906556116
published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116(29), 14414-14423 (National Academy of Sciences)
openalex publication_date 2019/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08
Significance A newly completed 40-y record of satellite observations is used to quantify changes in Antarctic sea ice coverage since the late 1970s. Sea ice spreads over vast areas and has major impacts on the rest of the climate system, reflecting solar radiation and restricting ocean/atmosphere exchanges. The satellite record reveals that a gradual, decades-long overall increase in Antarctic sea ice extents reversed in 2014, with subsequent rates of decrease in 2014–2017 far exceeding the more widely publicized decay rates experienced in the Arctic. The rapid decreases reduced the Antarctic sea ice extents to their lowest values in the 40-y record, both on a yearly average basis (record low in 2017) and on a monthly basis (record low in February 2017).