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Earth

Record low Arctic ice linked to freak weather in US, Europe

By Colin Barras

8 March 2018 Last updated 13 March 2018

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

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 1981 and 2010.…

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