NSIDC

Spring is in the air Arctic sea ice extent for March set a record low in the 47-year satellite data record. Extent was below average everywhere except the East Greenland Sea.

March Arctic sea ice extent averaged 14.14 million square kilometers (5.46 million square miles), the lowest in the 47-year satellite record and 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) below the previous record low March set in 2017.

Read our analysis: nsidc.org/sea-ice-toda...

🚨 March 2025 #Arctic sea ice extent was the lowest on record...

This was 1,290,000 km² below the 1981-2010 average. March ice extent is decreasing at about 2.46% per decade. Data: @nsidc.bsky.social (nsidc.org/data/seaice_...)

Have you checked out Snow Today yet? Now is a good time, because our latest Snow Today analysis, focusing on snow conditions in the western US in March 2025, is up!

Snow-covered area across the western US was 92% of average for March, ranking 17th in the 25-year satellite record. bit.ly/3FTHwih

🚨 It's official - 2025 likely observed the lowest annual maximum #Arctic sea ice extent on record!

Climate change is reshaping the Arctic, all throughout the year.

For more information from @nsidc.bsky.social: nsidc.org/sea-ice-toda...

2025 Arctic Sea Ice Reaches Record Low Maximum Extent - EcoWatch Scientists at NSIDC said that Arctic sea ice most likely reached its yearly maximum extent on March 22, at 5.53 million square miles.

“Warming temperatures are what’s causing the ice to decline. You know, sea ice in particular is very sensitive... 31 degrees is ice skating and 33 degrees it’s swimming.” ~ Walt Meier @nsidc.bsky.social

www.ecowatch.com/arctic-sea-i...

'A real loss': Boulder hosts Arctic research meeting, but US federal presence was muted by Trump directive The meeting, among the largest annual Arctic gatherings, came as Trump administration policies barred some federal scientists from attending.

“What happens in the Arctic, as people have said, doesn’t stay there. It affects us all," said Mark Serreze, @nsidc.bsky.social director and CIRES fellow, in a recent article about Arctic Science Summit Week.

Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks to Record Winter Low as Earth Heats Up The Arctic Ocean likely had the smallest winter ice cover in 47 years of satellite records this season, with just 5.53 million square miles of sea ice covering the region at its peak on March 22.

Arctic sea ice grows in winter, reaching its peak in March before starting the summer melt. This year's peak was the lowest in almost half a century. That has ramifications for the speed of global warming and for extreme weather further south. @nsidc.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Don't forget to come support the NNA undergraduate research students tomorrow, March 28, if you're still at the ICARP Summit!

Arctic sea ice hits record low maximum extent for the year Arctic sea ice has likely reached its maximum extent for the year, at 14.33 million square kilometers (5.53 million square miles) on March 22, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data...

Arctic sea ice likely reached its maximum extent for the year at 14.33 MM sq km (5.53 MM sq mi) on 3/22. The 2025 maximum sea ice extent is the lowest in the 47-year satellite record.

Learn more: nsidc.org/news-analyse...

Thawing the mysteries of ancient climate changes A new study from Chloe Brashear, Tyler Jones and others suggests abrupt warming events were preceded by periods of unusually stable temperatures during the last

🧊 New ice core study of the last ice age by Chloe Brashear, Tyler Jones et al. suggests abrupt warming events were preceded by periods of unusually stable temperatures. Shifting sea ice is a potential driver of the phenomenon.

Read our story: www.colorado.edu/instaar/2025...

Melting on the Antarctic Ice Sheet for the 2024 to 2025 season began with above average melt extents in all regions, but melt extent dropped to nearly zero or below average from February 1 to March 15.

Read more in our latest Ice Sheets Today analysis: bit.ly/4c4iLMd

Are you involved in the Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) community? Interested in creating a webpage for your project or improving your data visualization capabilities? The ADC invites the NNA community to join our outreach team in creating customizable data portals during our office hours at ASSW

From Onboarding to Fledging and Beyond—An Openscapes Journey | Earthdata The Earth Observing System Data and Information System is a key core capability in NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems Program. It provides end-to-end capabilities for managing NASA’s Eart...

NASA Earthdata blog: "From Onboarding to Fledging and Beyond—An Openscapes Journey. After learning how to migrate workflows to the cloud during onboarding, NASA Openscapes participants “fledge” to use their new skills in cloud-based scientific research."

www.earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/blog/o...

"The Greenland Ice Sheet is not the only important ice mass on the planet, but it plays an especially critical role at this moment in climate history," writes Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist @nsidc.bsky.social and researcher at CIRES.

Low Ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence The body of water off eastern Canada is one of the southernmost locations where Arctic sea ice forms, but its extent in winter 2024-2025 was well below normal.

Sea ice has been well below average in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this winter. A recent NASA "Image of the Day," acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows the Gulf of St. Lawrence on March 13, 2025.

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/15406...

🚨 The annual minimum has likely passed ➡️ "On March 1, Antarctic sea ice likely reached its minimum extent of 1.98 million square kilometers (764,000 square miles), tying for second lowest extent with 2022 and 2024 in the 47-year satellite record."

See @nsidc.bsky.social: nsidc.org/sea-ice-toda...

Logo for Arctic Science Summit Week, 20-28 March 2025 in Boulder, Colorado.

Arctic Science Summit Week starts today #ASSW2025! The int'l mtg, focused on research cooperation & collaboration, is being held in Boulder this yr. Related meetings incl @arctictogether.bsky.social. INSTAARs are among the ~800 participants.

Info:
www.assw.info
cires.colorado.edu/news/cires-h...

The Arctic is warming four times faster than anywhere else on the planet. Glaciologist Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist at @nsidc.bsky.social, joins us to explain the science behind why the Arctic circle is particularly vulnerable to warming. bit.ly/3FvLnSG

Where do weather forecasts come from? #NOAA’s satellites, radar, and experts work behind the scenes to track storms, predict weather, and send out critical alerts. Without them, forecasting would be a lot less reliable, atmospheric scientist Kari Bowen @cires.colorado.edu explains:

Essentially reading if you want to understand the feedback loops accelerating the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is contributing to global sea level rise.

By Twila Moon, deputy lead scientist @nsidc.bsky.social & researcher at @cires.colorado.edu

Arctic ice is melting faster than expected — and the culprit could be dust "The Arctic is changing faster than anywhere else on the planet, so the question we’re trying to ask here is: Is the Arctic going to change fast, or really fast?"

"We're trying to figure out why we’re finding all this ice in the clouds. The answer could help scientists understand the pace of Arctic melt." Scientists from the NASA ARCSIX mission are working to identify why Arctic ice is melting faster than predicted.

Learn more @space.com: bit.ly/4hGH849

Where do weather forecasts come from? #NOAA’s satellites, radar, and experts work behind the scenes to track storms, predict weather, and send out critical alerts. Without them, forecasting would be a lot less reliable, atmospheric scientist Kari Bowen @cires.colorado.edu explains:

Polar stereographic map of the climatological mean Arctic sea ice concentration for March with lines denoted at latitude bands of 80°N, 67°N, and 50°N.

Transition time of year... the central #Arctic (e.g. >80°N) continues to be very cold for weeks after the annual sea-ice extent maximum. However, this maximum is reached in March due to melting sea ice in the marginal seas - look how far south they extend!

Graphic at zacklabe.com/arctic-clima... 🌊

Image of houses along a rocky and green coast with floating ice visible in the water. In the top left corner, there's a blue box with the CIRES logo and white text: NEWS. CIRES to host annual international meeting of Arctic researchers

Starting Thursday, CIRES is hosting the largest event in the institute's history: Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW), an annual meeting focused on research cooperation and collaboration in the Arctic. @colorado.edu @nsidc.bsky.social

Read more: cires.colorado.edu/news/cires-h...

Learn more about the event, which is hosted by @cires.colorado.edu: cires.colorado.edu/news/cires-h...

Arctic Science Summit Week is happening this week at the University of Colorado Boulder! The conference provides opportunities for coordination, cooperation & collaboration between the scientific organizations involved in Arctic research.

Learn more: www.assw.info

"We are seeing the Arctic warm much more rapidly than the rest of the planet, and we've been seeing record heat there."

NSIDC's Twila Moon joined the Big Picture Science podcast to talk about the changes we're seeing in the Arctic because of climate change. bigpicturescience.org/episodes/ama...

Collection of small polar stereographic maps showing the average February Arctic sea-ice thickness for each year from 1979 to 2025. There is large spatial variability, but a long-term decreasing trend. The thickness of ice ranges from 0 meters to more than 5 meters.

47 years of #Arctic sea ice thickness during the month of February...

Graphic available at zacklabe.com/arctic-sea-i...

Giant ice bulldozers: how ancient glaciers helped life evolve | News at Curtin New Curtin University research has revealed how massive ancient glaciers acted like giant bulldozers, reshaping Earth’s surface and paving the way for compl ...

Researchers at Curtin University discovered that as glaciers carved through the landscape, they scraped deep into the Earth’s crust, releasing key minerals that altered ocean chemistry.

Learn how this could enhance our understanding of Earth’s interconnected natural systems: bit.ly/3Dl6t5y

⏰ Atmospheric CO2 levels have now exceeded 430 ppm
for the first time since records began, marking a grim milestone for the future of the Earth's polar regions

Full press release: iccinet.org/media-center/