Antarctic sea ice likely reached its minimum extent for the year on February 20, 2024, hitting a near-record low in the 46-year satellite record . This year’s minimum is 328,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average summer minimum extent in Antarctica, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center . Scientists will be watching carefully to see what happens when it reaches its maximum winter extent next September . But shifts in sea and air temperatures, winds, and ocean currents are likely implicated .