Arctic sea ice hits its 2026 low, still in the satellite-era basement
NASA and NSIDC put the 12 September minimum at 1.78 million square miles, tied for the tenth-lowest in the record.
Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum on 12 September 2026, NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported. The ice covered an estimated 1.78 million square miles (4.6 million square kilometres). That ties 2008, 2010, and 2025 for the tenth-lowest minimum since continuous satellite measurements began in late 1978.
The last twenty summers, 2007 through 2026, hold the twenty lowest minima in that record. Year to year, weather still moves the number. NSIDC’s Walt Meier described the recent Septembers as a plateau that remains low against the earlier part of the record. More cloud over the last decade has limited how much extra sun reaches the ice, according to NASA Goddard’s Linette Boisvert.
The same week, Antarctic ice was heading toward its annual maximum after a short August retreat of roughly 116,000 square miles. That ice is not boxed in by land, so wind can shove the outer edge around. NASA and NSIDC said they would call the 2026 Antarctic maximum only after growth has clearly stopped.
The measurement itself is a relay of instruments: Nimbus-7 from 1978, then weather-satellite radiometers, Aqua, and now JAXA’s GCOM-W carrying AMSR2. The desk note is the extent, not a forecast.
Desk note from a public release. Source: NASA Science. This site is not the agency.