Antarctic Sea Ice Shelf Sets All-time Record
Posted on September 30, 2012
Antarctic sea ice now covers 19,454,000 km². This is the most sea ice ever measured at either pole, and is about the size of the US and Europe combined. Antarctica contains around 90% of the total ice on the Earth while the Arctic only contains about 2% of the worlds total ice.
The ice now extends more than 1,000 miles off the coast of Antarctica. Emperor Penguins have to walk across the ice to get to the sea.
Most of the ice is located between 60 and 70S, which means that it reflects huge amounts of sunshine back into space, dramatically cooling the Earth.
The sun is currently about 30 degrees above the horizon at the ice edge.
While Arctic ice has been declining in recent years, the Antarctic sea ice has been steadily increasing.
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