Arctic sea ice plunges to a record low: Study reveals how 'pause' in melting has ended - with 'exceptionally' diminished levels this year

Arctic sea ice has plunged to a record low – with 'exceptionally' diminished levels this year, a new study has warned. Over the last two decades, sea ice decline has actually been slow. However, new satellite observations by researchers from the University of Southampton now confirm that that 'pause' has officially ended. In both 2025 and 2026, winter sea ice levels plummeted – suggesting the 20–year trend has returned to a state of significant decline.'This sharp drop changes the way we interpret recent Arctic winter sea ice change,' said Dr Duo Chan, lead author of the study.'What looked like a pause in the early 2020s now appears to have been a temporary slowdown within a longer–term decline associated with global warming.'Worryingly, scientists have warned that the loss of Arctic sea ice comes with serious repercussions. This includes global sea level rise, more extreme winters, and decreased survivability for Arctic wildlife – including polar bears. Arctic sea ice has plunged to a record low – with 'exceptionally' diminished levels this year, a new study has warned In both 2025 and 2026, winter sea ice levels plummeted – suggesting the 20–year trend has returned to a state of significant declineAccording to the new analysis, between 2024 and 2025, Arctic sea ice extent during the winter peak phase, from February to March, fell by 5.8 per cent.Worryingly, this was the largest year–to–year wintertime drop in the satellite record, which began in 1978. In 2026, sea ice recovered slightly, but remained the second lowest extent ever recorded. Dr Chan said: 'Short–term recoveries can temporarily obscure the longer–term direction of Arctic sea ice change. 'The low winter sea ice extents in 2025 and 2026 clearly show that Arctic sea ice loss has not stopped — it is continuing in a warming climate.'As for the impact of this ice loss, WWF has previously warned that there will be repercussions for nearly everyone on Earth. Since the Arctic ice reflects heat back into space, its loss could spark even more intense heatwaves worldwide, as well as more extreme winters. 'As the polar jet stream – a high–pressure wind that circles the Arctic region – is destabilized by warmer air, it can dip south, bringing bitter cold with it,' WWF explained. Sea ice loss can also spark global sea level rise, food instability, and more dangerous shipping routes. What's more, it could be disastrous for the animals living in the Arctic. WWF added: 'When there's less sea ice, animals that depend on it for survival must adapt or perish. 'Loss of ice and melting permafrost spells trouble for polar bears, walruses, arctic foxes, snowy owls, reindeer, and many other species. 'As they are affected, so too are the other species that depend on them, in addition to people. 'Wildlife and people are coming into more frequent contact – and often conflict – as wildlife encroach on Arctic communities, looking for refuge as their sea ice habitat disappears.'WHY DO POLAR BEARS NEED ICE TO SURVIVE?Loss of ice due to climate change has a direct impact on the ability of polar bears to feed and survive.The bears need platforms of ice to reach their prey of ringed and bearded seals. Some sea ice lies over more productive hunting areas than others.Arctic sea ice shrinks during the summer as it gets warmer, then forms again in the long winter. How much it shrinks is where global warming kicks in, scientists say. The more the sea ice shrinks in the summer, the thinner the ice is overall, because the ice is weaker first-year ice. But the Arctic has been warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. In some seasons, it has warmed three times faster than the rest of the globe, said University of Alaska at Fairbanks scientist John Walsh. In the summertime, polar bears go out on the ice to hunt and eat, feasting and putting on weight to sustain them through the winter. They prefer areas that are more than half covered with ice because it´s the most productive hunting and feeding grounds. From late fall until spring, mothers with new cubs den in snowdrifts on land or on pack ice. They emerge from their dens, with the new cubs, in the spring to hunt seals from floating sea ice.Simply put, if there isn't enough sea ice, seals can't haul out on the ice and polar bears can't continue to hunt. In recent years the sea ice has retreated so far offshore that the bears have been forced to drift on the ice into deep waters - sometimes nearly a mile deep - that are devoid of their prey.