Another year, another climate record broken. But don’t let this one wash over you. Arctic sea ice is usually at its most extensive in early March, which marks the end of the Arctic winter – but this year’s winter ice cap is the smallest recorded in almost 40 years of monitoring. The previous record low was set only last year. Around Antarctica, meanwhile, sea ice levels are the second lowest on record.
In February, Arctic sea ice covered about 13.9 million square kilometres. This is 1.74 million square kilometres below the seasonal average recorded between …