New Antarctic sea ice record

Antarctic winter sea ice has once again broken the record for maximum extent. On September 12, the coverage measured 19.619 million square kilometer, the highest since satellite records began.The ice has broken daily records on about 150 days this year, indicating consistently greater coverage than in previous years. With several weeks of growth still to go, more records could fall.

2014 is the third year in a row that the ice has broken the maximum extent record. In 2013 the sea ice reached 19.47 million square km, 3.6% above the average for 1981-2010. The records continue a weak trend towards greater sea ice cover, which evidence suggests is linked to increasing greenhouse gases and climate change.

Dr Guy Williams, a sea ice specialist at University of Tasmania who has previously written on The Conversation, said the new  
records add to an "exciting" puzzle for climate scientists. Each record-breaking year is different due to variations in seasonal weather and ocean conditions—"it's those differences that will tell us something."

Total sea ice extent is not the full story either. The weak positive trend masks declines in some regions, and increases in others. Parts  
of the Antarctic—particularly to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula—show a very large decline in sea ice. In other regions, such as the Ross Sea, sea ice is increasing.

There are also as yet no published data on sea ice volume—a much better measure of whether sea ice is increasing or decreasing.