BoulderAntarctic sea ice peaked at 17.59 million square kilometres.
It is the third-smallest peak in 48 years of satellite records.
All 5 lowest July extents occurred since 2022 and all 4 lowest August extents since 2023, researcher Clare Eayrs says.
Lettie Roach of the Alfred Wegener Institute says scientists cannot yet separate human warming from natural variability.
The US National Snow and Ice Data Center calls the 14 September peak preliminary.
How each outlet framed it
- Carbon Brief
- contrasts decades of stable Antarctic sea ice with current lows; cautions need for time to determine if structural shift
Sources: Carbon Brief