Antarctic Sea Ice Reaches New Record Maximum (VIDEO)

The sea ice surrounding Antarctica has just reached a new record high this year. The ice covers more of the southern oceans than it has since scientists first began a long-term satellite record to map sea ice extent in the late 1970s.

It may seem strange that sea ice extent is increasing in the Antarctic, considering that global warming is still occurring. Yet the upward trend in the Antarctic is only about a third of the magnitude of the rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. This means that despite the increased extent, there's still a global overall loss in ice.

"The planet as a whole is going what was expected in terms of warming," said Claire Parkinson, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Sea ice as a whole is decreasing as expected, but like with global warming, not every location with sea ice will have a downward trend in ice extent."

The maximum amount of sea ice in the Antarctic was officially reached on Sept. 20. That's when the sea ice covered a staggering 7.78 million square miles. The five day average maximum was reached on Sept. 22, when sea ice covered 7.76 million square miles.

Currently, the scientists are trying to determine what factors are influencing the increased ice extent. One clue could be found around the Antarctic Peninsula. There, the temperatures are warming ad in the Bellingshausen Sea just to the west of the peninsula, the sea ice is shrinking. Yet beyond this sea and past the Amundsen Sea lies the Ross Sea, where much of the sea ice growth is occurring.

So what does this mean? It suggests that a low-pressure system in the Amundsen Sea could be intensifying or becoming more frequent in the area. This could be changing wind patterns and circulating warm air over the peninsula while at the same time sweeping cold air from the Antarctica over the Ross Sea. This would help explain the increased extent.

"It's really not surprising to people in the climate field that not every location on the face of the Earth is acting as expected-it would be amazing if everything did," said Parkinson. "The Antarctic sea ice is one of those areas where things have not gone entirely as expected. So it's natural for scientists to ask 'OK, this isn't what we expected, now how do we explain it?"

Want to learn more? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.