Arctic sea ice has likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 14.88 million square kilometers (5.75 million square miles) on February 25, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2022 maximum is the tenth lowest in the 44-year satellite record.
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Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis
Scientific analysis of Arctic sea ice conditions plus daily imagesELOKA
Working together to understand the changing Arctic systemSnow Today
Scientific analysis of snow conditions in the Western United States plus daily imagesThe NASA DAAC at NSIDC
NASA Earth science data on snow, ice, cryosphere, and climateVisit the Cryosphere
Facts, photos and educational resources about Earth's frozen regionsGreenland Today
Daily surface melt images from NASA data, and scientific analysisNews
30 November 2021
More rain than snow will fall in the Arctic and this transition will occur decades earlier than previously predicted, a new study led by the University of Manitoba (UM) reports.
8 November 2021
Mountain and polar groups at the twenty-sixth United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) are calling for more consideration of the dire global impacts that will result should governments not take greater action as the climate talks in Glasgow begin their second and final week.
22 September 2021
Arctic sea ice has likely reached its minimum extent for the year, at 4.72 million square kilometers (1.82 million square miles) on September 16, 2021, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2021 minimum is the twelfth lowest in the nearly 43-year satellite record. The last 15 years are the lowest 15 sea ice extents in the satellite record.
14 September 2021
Each September, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder informs the public of the annual Arctic sea ice minimum extent, an indicator of how climate change is affecting the Arctic, the fastest-warming region of the globe.
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The Latest on Snow and Ice
3 May 2022
Arctic spring melt has begun. Ice extent declined most substantially in the Bering Sea and the... read more
20 April 2022
Daily melt extent mapping for Greenland Ice Sheet has resumed, while mapping for the... read more
6 April 2022
March 2022 snow summary
Snow-covered area for the western United States was 97 percent of average... read more
5 April 2022
After reaching its seasonal maximum extent of 14.88 million square kilometers (5.75 million... read more
22 March 2022
Arctic sea ice has likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 14.88 million square... read more