Arctic Sea Ice Maximum 2022

Animation of arctic sea ice from the September 16, 2021 minimum to the February 25, 2022 maximum. After growing through the fall and winter, sea ice in the Arctic appears to have reached its annual maximum extent. The image above shows the ice extent—defined as the total area in which the ice concentration is at least 15 percent—at its 2022 maximum, which occurred on February 25, tying with 2015 for the third earliest maximum on record. On this day the extent of the Arctic sea ice cover peaked at million square kilometers ( million square miles), making it the tenth lowest yearly maximum extent on record.