Despite climbing global temperatures, sea ice coverage around the Antarctic has been increasing in direct contrast to the Arctic ice sheet, which gets smaller each year.
Scientists say this is due to a vortex of winds around the South Pole that have gradually strengthened and converged since the 1970s. These winds are pushing and compressing ice into thick ridges that are slower to melt, even in the face of rising global temperatures.
But in 2015 the maximum extent of ice decreased for the first time in three years.
“After three record-high-extent years, this year marks a return towards normalcy for Antarctic sea ice,” said Dr. Walt Meier, a sea ice scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre.
“There may be more high years in the future because of the large year-to-year variation in Antarctic extent, but such extremes are not nearly as substantial as in the Arctic, where the declining trend towards a new normal is continuing.”
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