Antarctic Sea Ice Is at a Record Low — Again

The extent of sea ice around Antarctica has reached a record low level — for the second Southern Hemisphere summer in a row.This year’s low is 405,000 square miles below the 1981 to 2010 average minimum extent of sea ice around Antartica, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. That amount of ice loss is equivalent to more than half of the land area of Alaska. As Antarctic sea ice shrivels, it opens the way for waves to violently pound ice shelves that hold back the flow