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5h ago

Arctic Winter Sea Ice Matches Record Low for Second Year, NASA and NSIDC Report

The unusually small, thin winter cap sets up a faster spring melt that will boost ocean heat uptake.

FILE - Sea ice covers the ocean at Yalour Islands in Antarctica, Nov. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker, File)
In this aerial view melting icebergs crowd the Ilulissat Icefjord on July 16, 2024 near Ilulissat, Greenland. The Ilulissat Icefjord is approximately 60km long and is a conduit for icebergs calving from the massive Sermeq Kujalleq glacier, also called the Jakobshavn Glacier, of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
FILE - Pieces of ice move through the sea in Qoornoq Island, near Nuuk, Greenland, Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)
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Overview

  • NASA and the NSIDC, in a Thursday update, said the ice peaked at 5.52 million square miles on March 15, a statistical tie with 2025’s record low.
  • Sea-ice extent, which counts ocean areas that are at least 15% ice, was about 525,000 square miles below the 1981–2010 average, extending a decline seen since 1979.
  • NASA’s ICESat-2 measurements show the ice is thinner than usual this year, with weak thickness in the Barents Sea and low ice in the Sea of Okhotsk.
  • NSIDC labeled the 2026 maximum preliminary and warned that late-season weather could still shift the final peak.
  • The low winter cap increases dark open water that soaks up sunlight, threatens ice-dependent wildlife, and is opening Arctic routes and resources with rising strategic stakes.