It offers a resting place for seals and walruses and acts as a 'engine' for ocean flows.
And the enormous whiteness also reflects sunlight back to the space to keep our planet cool – a weapon in the fight against global warming.
Antarctic sea ice, which surrounds the South Pole, has shrunk to a near-record layer.
On 25 February, the Antarctic Sea ice cream reached its minimum extent for the year, according to new EU data of 722,000 square kilometers (1.87 million km²).
This marks the seventh lowest minimum degree on record, connected by 2024 and eight percent below the long-term average of 1993-2010.
Experts say that it generally decreases in the long -term basis due to global warming, largely due to people who burn fossil fuels.
“There is much less sea cover than the historical average,” says Claire Yung, an Earth Sciences researcher at Australian National University.
“In Antarctica, sea cover this year is very low – a reminder of the serious and unprecedented changes in the climate of the earth that take place all around us.”
Sea ice in Antarctica has fallen to a near-record low, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). This map shows the sea size before 25 February, as well as the average ice size for February (characterized by the red line)
On 25 February the Antarctic Sea ice cream reached its minimum extent for the year, according to the data of 1.87 million square km from 72,200 square kilometers (1.87 million km²)
The new maps and data published by the Copernicus Marine Service of the EU are based on radiation data and visible images of satellites, which constantly include sea -ice.
As the cards show, there has been a large loss of ice around Antarctica, but there are some regional variations described as 'melting uneven'.
For example, sea ice in the Weddell -Sea and along the coasts of the Bellingshausen Zee, Wilkes Land and Amery Land opposes massive melting.
Antarctica's 'Sea Ice Udervit' refers to the total region covered by ice around the coastline of Antarctica, and does not include the ice that covers the land mass itself.
The sea -ice cream reaches a great extent in the winter of the southern hemisphere (July to September) because of more cold temperatures.
But the temperatures are gradually rising and the sea ice melts and ultimately reach a minimum size during the summer of the southern hemisphere (December to February).
Climate scientists constantly follow sea ice during the seasons and compare its size by the same months from previous years, to see how it changes.
So although there is a large variability in the ice size, depending on the time of the year, it has started lower than the average since the records started, regardless of the season.
The surface of the ocean around Antarctica freezes in the winter and melts back every summer. Antarctic Sea ice (depicted) usually reaches its annual maximum in mid-September (winter), and reaches its annual minimum at the end of February or the beginning of March (summer)
Zee -IJs in the Weddell -Sea and along the coasts of the Bellingshausenzee, Wilkes Land and Amery Land oppose en masse melting
Since 2017, the minima of Antarctic Sea -ice cream have consistently established record points, with a “about trend in climate change,” said Copernicus.
According to the EU agency, Sea Ice Volume-one has reached a different metric for the measurement of ice-looking near-record lows during the summer of the southern hemisphere.
On March 5, 2025, Antarctic Sea -IJs volume reached its minimum, dropped to only 247 cubic miles (1,030 km3), also revealed.
This is worrying a decrease of 56 percent of the long -term average of 573 cubic miles (2,390 km3).
Sea Ice Volume is a very important statistics because it looks at how thick the ice is, as well as the distance it covers.
Sea ice cream can often have a great deal, but the exposure to warmer temperatures has thinned it.
Antarctic and Arctic Sea -ice is vital because the whiteness of the ice reflects the light of the sun, keeping polar areas cool, known as a higher 'Albedo'.
Without this ice covering, dark spots are exposed on the ocean instead, which absorb sunlight instead of reflecting it – in turn, strengthening the area and accelerating ice loss further.
This graph shows the daily Antarctic Sea -IJs volume – not the size – from 1993 to 2025. Antarctic Sea and Mate generally reached its maximum in the winter of the southern hemisphere (July to September) before it falls before they fall
Zee -IJs offers a resting and birthplace for seals and walrus, a hunting and breeding ground for polar bears and a foraging soil for polar fox, whales, karibo and other mammals. Shown: a polar bear on ice in the Arctic Sea
Also this week, NSIDC has revealed that the Arctic Sea (which is on the greatest degree around this time of year) is on a record low. Arctic Sea – Ice reached 5.53 million square kilometers (14.33 million square kilometers) on March 22, probably the maximum size of the year
“We lose the Abbedo of the Earth, and many are not realizing the serious consequences,” said Peter Dynes, director of Non-Profit Organization.
Arctic Sea- IJs also offers a rest and birthplace for seals and walrus, a hunting and breeding ground for polar bears, and a foraging soil for polar fox, whales, kariboe and other mammals.
A lack of ice and bad ice conditions cause stress for marine mammals and ultimately influence their resources of existence and skills to reproduce, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
Fast warming already has a significant South War shift and contraction caused in the distribution of Antarctic Krill – a keystone species, said campaign feeders.
Also this week, NSIDC has revealed that the Arctic Sea – that is the greatest of the year around this time of the year – is low on a record.
Arctic Sea – Ice reached 5.53 million square kilometers (14.33 million square kilometers) on March 22, probably the maximum size of the year.
Although this may sound high, this is the lowest in the 47-year-old satellite record, so that on 7 March 2017 it is a shortage of the previous record low of 5.56 million square km kilometers (14.41 million km²).
