Antarctic-extent_2016-2022_1200.png

Daily ice extent in the Southern Hemisphere from 1979 through February 2022. The dark gray dashed line shows the average, while the light gray area shows the range of variability (95% of values). February 2022 (dark blue) replaced 2017 (pink) as the smallest summer minimum on record. The summer minimum has been below-average for the past 7 years, but the long-term trend remains statistically insignificant thanks to the region's history of big swings in ice extent from year to year. NOAA Climate.gov graph, based on Charctic data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.