The Arctic's sea ice extent has hit an all-time low for winter, falling more than 100,000 square kilometers below the previous record.
According to CBS News, this year's Arctic sea ice extent was 14.54 million square kilometers, which is 130,000 square kilometers short of the previous mark set in 2011. It is also 1.10 million square kilometers less than the average figure set from 1981 to 2010.
The new data comes from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
"The amount of ice at the maximum is a function of not only the state of the climate but also ephemeral and often local weather conditions," Walt Meier, an NSIDC scientist, told BBC News. "The monthly value smooths out these weather effects and so is a better reflection of climate effects."
Sea ice is the ice that floats in the water of the Arctic and is often used as an indicator of measuring the affects of greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are increasing greenhouse gases, the planet is heating up, the ice is melting, and this means we should expect new records to be set," Jennifer Kay, an atmospheric scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research and Environmental Science at the University of Colorado, told CBS News. "The record-low Arctic sea ice extent this winter is not surprising to me from a scientific standpoint."
The NSIDC determined in Feb. the Arctic's sea ice extent hit its maximum uncommonly early, likely due to warming conditions on the continent's western region.
"Because of the variability of ice extent at this time of year, there can be some delay in pinpointing the date of the maximum extent, as was true this year," the NSIDC said in its analysis. "NSIDC calculates daily ice extent as an average of the previous five days (see the Sea Ice Index documentation for more information), and we also look for a clear downward trend for a number of days."
