Arctic sea ice in 2022 is the lowest 10 on record, which is also the reason for the low temperature during the Spring Festival in China.

This picture shows the average concentration of Arctic sea ice on February 25th, 2022. The yellow outline shows the median sea ice range in March, which is observed by satellites from 198 1 to 20 10, when the sea ice usually reaches the maximum range. The median is the median. In other words, half of the range is larger than the line and half is smaller than the line.

After the growth in autumn and winter, the Arctic sea ice seems to have reached its annual maximum range on February 25th. This year's winter range is the lowest 10 in the satellite records kept by the National Snow and Ice Data Center, one of the distributed activity archives centers of NASA.

The peak value of Arctic sea ice range is 5.75 million square miles (14.88 million square kilometers), which is about 297,300 square miles (770,000 square kilometers) lower than the average maximum value of 198 1 20 10-which is equivalent to missing an ice area slightly larger than the sum of Texas and Maine. This maximum sum of 20 15 is the third earliest on record.

Sea ice fluctuates with the seasons every year. In the Arctic, after a cold month, it reached its maximum range around March, and after a warm month, it narrowed to its minimum range in September. In the southern hemisphere, Antarctic sea ice follows the opposite cycle.

In order to estimate the sea ice range, satellite sensors collect sea ice data processed into daily images, and each image grid cell spans an area of about 15 miles x 15 miles (25 kilometers x 25 kilometers). Then, scientists use these images to estimate the ocean extent where sea ice covers at least 15% of water.

Since the satellite 1979 began to track sea ice reliably, the maximum range of the Arctic has decreased at a rate of about 13% every ten years, and the minimum range has decreased at a rate of about 2.7% every ten years. These trends are related to the warming caused by human activities, such as the emission of carbon dioxide, which will capture the heat in the atmosphere and cause the temperature to rise. Analysis of NASA also shows that the Arctic is warming three times faster than other regions.

In February this year, Antarctic sea ice fell to the lowest level in history. But unlike the Arctic, this piece of sea ice presents irregular ups and downs, mainly because of its surrounding geographical features. In particular, winds and ocean currents related to the Southern Ocean and Antarctica have a great influence on the sea ice range.

Arctic sea ice is surrounded by land, while Antarctic sea ice is only surrounded by ocean, so it can spread more freely. Generally speaking, Antarctic sea ice records show a slightly rising but almost flat trend or increase.

The increase of Antarctic sea ice is not enough to offset the loss of the Arctic. The ice in these two areas helps to regulate the global temperature. Even if Antarctica achieves a global sea ice level balance, the loss of Arctic sea ice may still lead to further regional and global warming.