Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Reaches Seasonal Minimum

Antarctic sea ice has likely reached its minimum extent for the year, at 2.58 million square kilometers (996,000 square miles) on February 26, 2026, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

The 2026 minimum ranks 16th lowest in the 48-year satellite record. This year’s minimum is much closer to average than the past four years, albeit still 260,000 square kilometers (100,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average. It is 730,000 square kilometers (282,000 square miles) above the record low set on February 21, 2023.  

“Through most of the year, Antarctic sea ice was well below the daily average,” said Ted Scambos, senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES) and contributor to NSIDC’s Sea Ice Today and Ice Sheets Today projects. “Then in January and February, strong winds from the south pushed sea ice outward in the Weddell Sea. This slowed the overall decline in extent, leading to a near-average minimum."

NASA NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) scientist Walt Meier added, "This year’s return to less extreme conditions is not unexpected given the large year-to-year variation of Antarctic sea ice seen in the satellite record."

NSIDC scientists stress that the Antarctic sea ice extent number is preliminary—continued melt conditions or strong onshore winds could still push the ice extent lower.