This low Antarctic sea ice area is alarming. Antarctic sea ice typically reaches its annual low in February. The record low of 1.09 million km² that was reached on February 24, 2023, was very close to a Blue Ocean Event, yet the deviation then was only -2.86σ.
High temperature anomalies over Antarctica and high sea temperatures are behind the low sea ice area. The image below shows how much higher the September 2025 temperature was than it was in 1951-1980.
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| [ from earlier post ] |
At this time of year, little sunlight is reaching the South Pole yet, so temperatures over Antarctica are still well below zero °C. Nevertheless, temperature anomalies were high in September 2025 and anomalies were as high as +4.22°C compared to 1979-2000 on October 14, 2025, which is remarkable given the absence of El Niño conditions. Record high daily temperatures were reached on each day of the period from 12 to 17 October 2025. The inset shows high polar temperature anomalies versus 1991-2020 on October 17, 2025.
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| [ click on images to enlarge ] |
Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice volume remains at a record daily low, as it has been for more than a year, as illustrated by the image below. This contributes to low global sea ice, as this causes less sunlight to be reflected and instead more sunlight to be absorbed by the ocean surface.
The global sea ice area was 3.45 million km² lower than 1981-2010 on October 17, 2025, a deviation from 1981-2010 of -4.47σ, as illustrated by the image below.
The image below shows Antarctic sea ice concentration on October 17, 2025.
The image below shows Antarctic sea ice thickness on October 17, 2025.
The situation is dire. An Antarctic Blue Ocean Event (sea ice approaching a low of one million km²) could occur in February 2026, triggering an Arctic Blue Ocean Event later in 2026.
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Further Links
• Kevin Pluck - Sea ice visuals
https://seaice.visuals.earth
• University of Bremen - sea ice concentration and thickness
https://seaice.uni-bremen.de/start
• Climate Reanalyzer
• Transforming Society
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/transforming-society.html
• Climate Plan
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climateplan.html
• Climate Emergency Declaration
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climate-emergency-declaration.html
The image below shows Antarctic sea ice thickness on October 17, 2025.
Climate Emergency Declaration
UN secretary-general António Guterres recently spoke about the need for “a credible global response plan to get us on track” regarding the international goal of limiting the global temperature rise. “The science demands action, the law commands it,” Guterres said, in reference to a recent international court of justice ruling. “The economics compel it and people are calling for it.”
What could be added is that the situation is dire and unacceptably dangerous, and the precautionary principle necessitates rapid, comprehensive and effective action to reduce the damage and to improve the outlook, where needed in combination with a Climate Emergency Declaration, as described in posts such as this 2022 post and this one and as discussed in the Climate Plan group.
2. Food - Produce vegan-organic food and pursue synthetic food, solar food and precision fermentation.
3. Waste management - Pyrolyze organic waste with the biochar added to the soil.
4. Construction and Activities - Transition to online work, ordering, education and health diagnosis, using wood and green steel to construct buildings, vessels, bridges and water storage, while adding olivine sand to footpaths, bikeways, paths, gardens, beaches, forests and water bodies, and while letting eVTOL air taxis add extra mobility, battery exchange and mobile communications, in support of microgrids, WiFi, microwave and laser links.
The above transitions will help increase forests, as discussed in posts such as this one. Reforestation and afforestation efforts work best when including restoration of wildlife and creation of food forests as discussed in this post and in this post. A recent study led by Evan Fricke finds that with healthy populations of animals that disperse seeds, tropical forests can absorb up to four times more carbon. A 2024 study led by Maddi Artamendi finds a notable negative impact of reduced pollinator species diversity on plant reproductive success measures, such as seed set, fruit set and fruit weight.
UN secretary-general António Guterres recently spoke about the need for “a credible global response plan to get us on track” regarding the international goal of limiting the global temperature rise. “The science demands action, the law commands it,” Guterres said, in reference to a recent international court of justice ruling. “The economics compel it and people are calling for it.”
What could be added is that the situation is dire and unacceptably dangerous, and the precautionary principle necessitates rapid, comprehensive and effective action to reduce the damage and to improve the outlook, where needed in combination with a Climate Emergency Declaration, as described in posts such as this 2022 post and this one and as discussed in the Climate Plan group.
Transform Society with the Climate Plan
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| [ image from this 2019 post, text discussed in earlier posts such as this 2022 one and links below ] |
The Climate Plan calls for Transformation of Society in at least four sectors, as follows:
1. Energy - Generate clean, renewable energy with solar panels, turbines and batteries.2. Food - Produce vegan-organic food and pursue synthetic food, solar food and precision fermentation.
3. Waste management - Pyrolyze organic waste with the biochar added to the soil.
4. Construction and Activities - Transition to online work, ordering, education and health diagnosis, using wood and green steel to construct buildings, vessels, bridges and water storage, while adding olivine sand to footpaths, bikeways, paths, gardens, beaches, forests and water bodies, and while letting eVTOL air taxis add extra mobility, battery exchange and mobile communications, in support of microgrids, WiFi, microwave and laser links.
The above transitions will help increase forests, as discussed in posts such as this one. Reforestation and afforestation efforts work best when including restoration of wildlife and creation of food forests as discussed in this post and in this post. A recent study led by Evan Fricke finds that with healthy populations of animals that disperse seeds, tropical forests can absorb up to four times more carbon. A 2024 study led by Maddi Artamendi finds a notable negative impact of reduced pollinator species diversity on plant reproductive success measures, such as seed set, fruit set and fruit weight.
The images below illustrate the decline over time of wild mammals and birds, compared to humans, livestock and poultry.
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• Kevin Pluck - Sea ice visuals
https://seaice.visuals.earth
• University of Bremen - sea ice concentration and thickness
https://seaice.uni-bremen.de/start
• Climate Reanalyzer
https://www.climatereanalyzer.org
• Focus on Antarctica
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2025/09/focus-on-antarctica.html
• Emissions and Temperature Rise
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2025/10/emissions-and-temperature-rise.html
• Loss of pollinator diversity consistently reduces reproductive success for wild and cultivated plants - by Maddi Artamendi et al. (2024)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02595-2
discussed on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/climateplan/posts/25746278341642263
• Wild mammals make up only a few percent of the world’s mammal biomass - by Hannah Ritchie (2022)
• Focus on Antarctica
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2025/09/focus-on-antarctica.html
• Emissions and Temperature Rise
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2025/10/emissions-and-temperature-rise.html
• Seed dispersal disruption limits tropical forest regrowth - by Evan Fricke et al. (2025) https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2500951122
and• Loss of pollinator diversity consistently reduces reproductive success for wild and cultivated plants - by Maddi Artamendi et al. (2024)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02595-2
discussed on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/climateplan/posts/25746278341642263
• Wild mammals make up only a few percent of the world’s mammal biomass - by Hannah Ritchie (2022)
• Transforming Society
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2022/10/transforming-society.html
• Climate Plan
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climateplan.html
• Climate Emergency Declaration
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/p/climate-emergency-declaration.html
