The waters near Antarctica (Antarctic or Southern Ocean) present the largest annual accumulation of floating ice during the second and third week of September (in the middle of the southern winter).
The frozen surface on these dates is, on average over the last 30 years (reference climate period) in the Antarctic, 18,750 million square kilometers.
In the month of September 2022, the surface with floating ice at this time of year was only 18.2 billion km², a historical record until that date… A mark that is being pulverized by that of September 2023.
On the 17th of this month (the most recent data available at the time of writing this information) the ice covered 16,892 million km² in the Antarctic, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center of the United States. NSIDC).
In statements broadcast by the BBC, and with data from September 14, when the frozen surface was 16.945 million km², Walter Meier, a researcher at the NSIDC, has indicated that the sea ice surface surrounding Antarctica is now well below of any winter level previously recorded, “it’s so far from anything we’ve seen that it’s almost mind-blowing.”
The NSIDC prepares and keeps updated a graph that clearly shows the ice level situation in this area:
The September data surprises scientists but only relatively, since they are in line with the previous months. In fact, since last April, the ice surface in the Antarctic has been lower compared to the previous record, which corresponded to the corresponding months of 2022.
The ice floating in the Antarctic and its disappearance do not directly influence sea level (only the ice found on the Earth’s surface influences it) but it has great environmental and climatic importance for various reasons. On the one hand, floating ice serves as a mirror for radiation and acts almost as a coolant. If the Antarctic ice disappears, sea water warms, facilitating the destruction of the glaciers that reach the Antarctic coast and, therefore, also indirectly influencing the risk of sea level rise.
Professor Caroline Holmes, from the British Antarctic Service, explained in statements broadcast by the BBC that “the impacts of the reduction of sea ice in the Antarctic may become more evident with the arrival of the southern summer, when there is the possibility of produce an unstoppable feedback loop of melting ice.”
As more sea ice disappears, dark areas of the ocean are exposed, absorbing sunlight rather than reflecting it, meaning thermal energy is added to the water, which in turn melts more ice. Scientists call this the ice albedo effect. That could add much more heat to the planet, altering Antarctica’s usual role in regulating global temperatures, Professor Holmes detailed.
