in March, Antarctic sea ice fell to its second lowest level in 45 years

The world experienced its second warmest March and the extent of Antarctic sea ice reached its second lowest level for that month, the European climate observatory Copernicus reported on Thursday (April 6th). “After a record low extent in February, Antarctic sea ice has reached its second lowest level for March in the 45 years that satellite data have been recorded”said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Head of Copernicus.

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In March, which corresponds to the austral autumn, sea ice extent was 28% below average. It thus reached 3.2 million km2, or 1.2 million below the 1991-2020 average for this month, a Copernicus spokesperson told AFP. On the other side of the Earth, Arctic sea ice extent was 4% below average.

The past eight years have been the hottest on record

Copernicus further estimates that last month was the second hottest March globally, tied with March 2017, 2019 and 2020. The record for hottest March remains that of 2016. Last month , temperatures were above average in central and southern Europe but below average over most of northern Europe.

It was warmer than usual over large areas including North Africa, southwestern Russia and much of Asia, where many monthly records were broken. Well above average temperatures were still recorded in northeastern North America, Argentina and its neighbors, large parts of Australia and coastal regions of Antarctica.

The past eight years have been the hottest on record globally, all exceeding pre-industrial temperatures by more than a degree, Copernicus had established in January. This warming is the result of human activity, in particular the use of fossil fuels which release greenhouse gases.