by @Chris
Every year the seas around the poles freeze and thaw again. This map follows both ice caps through one full cycle, from Oct 2025 to Oct 2026, as two polar discs side by side: the Arctic on the left, the Antarctic on the right. The two run in opposite phase: when one is at its largest, the other is at its smallest. The Arctic reached its winter maximum of 14.29 million km² on 15 Mar 2026, tied with 2025 for the lowest maximum on record, while the Antarctic shrank to 2.58 million km² on 26 Feb 2026. In September the roles reversed: the Arctic bottomed out at 4.60 million km² on 12 Sep 2026 (tied with 2008, 2010 and 2025 for the 10th-lowest minimum on record), and the Antarctic peaked at 17.59 million km² on 14 Sep 2026, the 3rd-lowest maximum on record. The white area is sea ice extent: every 25 km grid cell where satellites measure at least 15% ice cover. Keyframes are the 15th of each month plus the dates of each pole's maximum and minimum (NSIDC's 5-day mean, ranked against 1979–2026); the last frame is the latest data, 13 Oct 2026. The bar at the top shows the daily extent of both poles. The ice edge is smoothed and simplified to about 6 km, floes smaller than about 1,500 km² are left out, and the ice runs under the land, so the coast comes from the basemap. Each disc is a polar stereographic map, the projection NSIDC uses, reaching 40°N and 50°S. Recent values are near-real-time and may still be revised slightly. Sources: NSIDC Sea Ice Index, Version 4 (G02135), daily extent maps and daily extent series, National Snow and Ice Data Center; Natural Earth (land, Antarctic ice shelves).
Arctic sea ice · Antarctic sea ice