Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent on Sept. 12, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.
The past 20 years, from 2007 through 2026, have produced the 20 lowest annual Arctic sea ice minimum extents observed since continuous satellite measurements began in late 1978.
Over the last decade, for example, increased cloud cover has prevented solar radiation from further accelerating the melt of sea ice, according to Linette Boisvert, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
During that time, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used a series of satellite instruments to maintain a continuous sea ice record, beginning with NASA’s Nimbus-7 satellite, which began observations in October 1978.
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Summarized version
The ice covered an estimated 1.78 million square miles, tying 2008, 2010, and 2025 for the 10th-lowest minimum in the satellite record. Today, scientists continue the record using data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2), launched in 2012 aboard JAXA’s GCOM-W satellite.
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The article, shortened and in plain language
Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum extent on Sept. 12, according to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder. The ice covered an estimated 1.78 million square miles, tying 2008, 2010, and 2025 for the 10th-lowest minimum in the satellite record.
The 2026 minimum is consistent with patterns observed in the satellite record. The past 20 years, from 2007 through 2026, have produced the 20 lowest annual Arctic sea ice minimum extents observed since continuous satellite measurements began in late 1978.
Arctic sea ice grows during the dark, cold autumn and winter and retreats as temperatures rise during spring and summer, typically reaching its lowest extent in September.
Over the last decade, for example, increased cloud cover has prevented solar radiation from further accelerating the melt of sea ice, according to Linette Boisvert, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
At the opposite end of the planet, Antarctic sea ice is approaching its annual maximum following a fluctuation during August.
During that time, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used a series of satellite instruments to maintain a continuous sea ice record, beginning with NASA’s Nimbus-7 satellite, which began observations in October 1978.
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