The sea ice extent in Antarctica is at an all-time high in 2014, but scientists say it is not an indicator that global warming is not happening.

According to the Washington Post, Antarctica's sea ice peaked at 7.78 square miles on Sept. 20, breaking a mark set last year. However, sea ice extent has been on the other end of the spectrum up north, as the Arctic's was at an all-time low in 2012.

While Antarctica's sea ice extent is growing annually, its land ice has been shrinking more rapidly than previously believed.

"The planet as a whole is doing what was expected in terms of warming. Sea ice as a whole is decreasing as expected, but just like with global warming, not every location with sea ice will have a downward trend in ice extent," Claire Parkinson, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a press release.

Scientists say continental winds may be driving cold winds over the sea, encouraging more sea ice to form.

"Part of it is just the geography and geometry. With no northern barrier around the whole perimeter of the ice, the ice can easily expand if conditions are favorable," Walt Meier, a research scientist at Goddard, said in the release. "The winds really play a big role."

The researchers expressed that the sea ice extent maximum is not a sign of global warming not existing.

"Its really not surprising to people in the climate field that not every location on the face of Earth is acting as expected - it would be amazing if everything did," Parkinson said. "The Antarctic sea ice is one of those areas where things have not gone entirely as expected. So it's natural for scientists to ask, 'OK, this isn't what we expected, now how can we explain it?'"