The area of ice cover at the North Pole was 14.29 million sq. km as of the end of March 2026, which is 1.32 million square kilometers below the average level for 1981-2010. It is enough to cover the territory of France twice.
According to Kommersant, March 22 traditionally marks the maximum annual size of the Arctic ice sheet, but this figure is steadily decreasing from year to year due to a reduction in the volume of newly formed ice.
The March record of 2026 surpassed even the value of March 2025 (14.31 million sq. km). At the same time, scientists note an anomalous thinning of the ice, especially pronounced in the Barents Sea northeast of Greenland.
Meanwhile, alarming trends are also observed in Antarctica: last year, the area of ice at the South Pole fell to 1.98 million sq. km, which is 30% lower than the average before 2010 and is an absolute anti-record in the entire history of observations.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
