Global warming? Unusual sea ice in the Antartic

Washington, DC, United States (4E) – A satellite image snapped by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite shows a strange sea ice patterns.

According to Live science article in the Weddell Sea along the coast of Antarctica, the sea ice stretched 124 to 186 miles (200 to 300 kilometers) north of its typical extent in January and February, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

Though the ice is thin, the region north of the Weddell Sea typically has little or no ice at all this time of year, the Earth Observatory reported.

Unlike the Arctic—an ocean basin surrounded by land—the Antarctic is a large continent surrounded by ocean. Because of this geography, sea ice has more room to expand in the winter.

But the ice also stretches closer to warmer, lower latitudes, leading to more melting in summer. Antarctic sea ice peaks in September (the end of Southern Hemisphere winter) and retreats to a minimum in February.

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