Sea ice in Antarctica is growing in some regions and shrinking in others. Photo / Getty Images
A new report helps explain why sea ice in Antarctica is growing as the ocean and air around it warm.
On Tuesday, Australia's Antarctic Climate and Ecocystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC) released a "position analysis" spanning nearly thirty years of research.
Sea ice is a "canary in
the coal mine for climate scientists", the report's lead author Dr Jan Lieser told journalists, as it is particularly sensitive to changes in temperature, wind, ocean currents and solar radiation.
Yet, particularly in Antarctica, it is also difficult to understand. Sea ice goes through a rapid transformation every year - in Antarctica, from about three million square kilometres in summer to about 19 million square kilometres in winter.
As summarised in the ACE CRC report, sea ice in Antarctica has grown by about 1.5 per cent or 285,000 square kilometres per decade since 1979, as measured by its winter maximum. This compares to a loss of 3.5-4.1 per cent per decade in the Arctic.
