CLIMATE
Arctic sea ice hits winter record low
March 28, 2025 - Arctic sea ice reached its annual maximum extent on March 22, 2025, the lowest level in the 47-year satellite record and 80,000 sq km smaller than the previous lowest in 2017.
Related Graphics
View More
WMO confirms 2024 as warmest year on record
BYD five-minute charge leaves competitors scrambling
Majority of world’s population breathes unclean air
Scientists worried by record January warmth
South Asia begins year with month of toxic pollution
Doomsday clock edges to 89 seconds to midnight
A faster jet stream is pushing aircraft to record-breaking speeds
“Absurd increase” in Brazil forest fires last year
BYD electric vehicle maker sees sales surge in 2024
Global coal consumption hit record high in 2024
Significant wildfires plagued the world in 2024
Air pollution in Delhi soars to extremely severe levels
Lahore pollution 120 times higher than safe levels
Peru’s Chinese-built megaport to reshape Pacific trade
2024 on track to be 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels
Amazon deforestation falls to lowest since 2015
UN warns of “disastrous” 3.1°C temperature rise
Hurricane Milton batters Florida, destroying homes
Deadly hurricane Milton bears down on Tampa, Florida
Florida braces for arrival of Hurricane Milton
Swiss-Italian border moves due to melting glaciers
Experiment to refreeze Arctic sea ice deemed a success
Mothballed firefighting plane back in production
Global hotspots that topped 50°C in 2024
The summer of 2024 was the world’s hottest ever recorded
The shipwrecked Lego washing up on Europe’s beaches
Global shortage of cocoa beans
Iceland volcano spread sulphur dioxide across Europe
Global bumper grain harvests see food prices fall
48,000 Europeans died from hot weather last year
The maximum extent in 2025 was 14.33 million square kilometres, 1.31m sq km less than the average for the period 1981-2010, at 15.64m sq km. Sea ice was low throughout the Arctic, with the Gulf of St Lawrence - virtually ice free, and the Sea of Okhotsk particularly badly affected. Last year was the hottest year on record and the loss of Arctic ice threatens to accelerate positive feedback loops related to climate change.
Sea ice is typically at its maximum extent in March, followed by a slow melt over the spring and summer months, reaching its smallest area in September.