Polar ice loss continues unabated: February hits new record low
Copernicus data also conclude that it has been the third warmest February on record on the planet.
BarcelonaThe extent of sea ice at the planet's two poles again recorded a global daily record low in early February, surpassing the record reached in the same month in 2023. In fact, for the rest of February, the figures continued to exceed last year's record. This is concluded by the data published this Thursday by the climate change service of the European Copernicus program, which corroborate the increasingly accelerated melting due to global warming.
As for Arctic sea ice, it reached its lowest monthly extent in a month of February, specifically 8% below the average. This is the third consecutive month in which the glacial extent sets a record for its corresponding month. Arctic sea ice is currently approaching its maximum annual and winter extent, which normally occurs in March.
As for Antarctic sea ice, it reached the fourth lowest monthly extent in February, specifically 26% below the average. The combination of data from both poles has resulted in this new global record.
In its latest report, Copernicus claims that the daily extent of sea ice in the Antarctic could have even dropped further at the end of February. A figure that is yet to be confirmed, but which would mean "the second lowest minimum recorded by the satellite" in this area, according to the same programme.
Nineteen months exceeding 1.5 °C
In terms of air temperature, the data show that this was the third warmest February on record for the entire planet. The global average temperature was 13.36 °C, which is 0.63 °C above the average for February 1991-2020, and only 0.03 °C above February 2020, the fourth warmest.
This average temperature is 1.59 °C above the estimated average for the pre-industrial period (1850-1900). This was therefore the nineteenth of the last twenty months in which the global average surface air temperature exceeded the critical 1.5 °C.
"February 2025 continued the run of record or near-record temperatures seen over the past two years," said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate officer at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), in the statement. "One consequence of a warmer world is melting sea ice," she concluded.
The global average temperature in the northern winter – from December 2024 to February 2025 – was the second highest on record, at 0.71°C above the 1991-2020 average for the three months. This is just 0.05°C below the record set last winter.
As for Europe, the combined temperature for the month of February was 0.44 °C, about 0.4 °C above the average for February from 1991 to 2020. This figure makes this month "well outside" the top 10 warmest Februarys in Europe, according to Copernicus.
As for the average sea surface temperature, during February it was 20.88 °C, the second highest value recorded for this month, and just 0.18 °C below the record for February 2024.
