Antarctica's record low sea ice worries climate scientists

Its dramatic loss due to global warming could be major tipping point for the continent, have serious knock-on effects on rest of the world

- David Fogarty

Around Antarctica, the area of winter sea ice is hitting historic lows, alarming climate scientists who say the reduction is so dramatic that it could be signalling a major tipping point for the frozen continent.

And what happens down south affects the rest of the globe, said Professor Benjamin Horton, director of the Nanyang Technological University's Earth Observatory of Singapore, which was part of the Republic's first science-based expedition to Antarctica in February 2023.

"Antarctica might be 10,000km away from Singapore, but changes on this continent will affect our climate and the vulnerability of our country to sea-level rise.

"Everyone should be concerned about what's happening in Antarctica," he told The Sunday Times on Wednesday.

Antarctica plays a unique role in regulating the global climate and ocean currents. Warming of the oceans and air around the region risks disrupting this key role as well as its delicate ecosystems.

Every winter, freezing conditions lead to the formation of a vast ring of sea ice around Antarctica, swelling from a few million sq km in summer to a maximum of 18 million to 20 million sq km around September. It is one of the planet's greatest spectacles.

But for 2023, the sea ice extent is far below what it has been for this time of year based on satellite data going back to the late 1970s.

Right now, the sea ice area is roughly 2.4 million sq km - or slightly more than the combined size of Indonesia and Malaysia less than the historical average.

It is also just over 1 million sq km less than 2022's total of 15.62 million sq km for this time of year (July 28), according to Japan's Arctic Data Archive System, which pools polar data from a number of scientific bodies.