Largest recorded size of the Antarctic sea ice

The Antarctic sea ice cap is the frozen sea that surrounds the Antarctic continent; its size varies with the seasons, reaching its maximum at the end of winter and its minimum at the end of summer. On 20 September 2014, the Antarctic sea ice reached its maximum, with an area of 20.201 million km² (7.80 million square miles).

Scientists are not sure why the area of the Antarctic sea ice is increasing and why that of the Arctic is decreasing. Since recording began in 1979, the maximum Antarctic sea ice saw an increase of about 650,000 km² (251,000 square miles) – roughly the same area of France and less than a third of the decrease of the Arctic ice cap.