Sea ice cover for January 2022 (2024)

Arctic
Antarctic

Arctic

1991-2020

Time series of monthly mean Arctic sea ice extent anomalies for all January months from 1979 to 2022. The anomalies are expressed as a percentage of the January average for the period 1991-2020. Data source: EUMETSAT OSI SAF Sea Ice Index v2.1. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF/EUMETSAT.
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1981-2010

Time series of monthly mean Arctic sea ice extent anomalies for all January months from 1979 to 2022. The anomalies are expressed as a percentage of the January average for the period 1981-2010. Data source: EUMETSAT OSI SAF Sea Ice Index v2.1. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF/EUMETSAT.
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The monthly average Arctic sea ice extent in January 2022 reached 14.0 million km², 0.1 million km² (or 1%) below the 1991-2020 average for January. It is the largest extent observed since 2009. However, it remains smaller than all January extents prior to 2005 in this satellite data record. The smallest January extent occurred in 2018, with a value close to 6% below average.

1991-2020

Left: Average Arctic sea ice concentration for January 2022. The thick orange line denotes the climatological sea ice edge for January for the period 1991-2020. Right: Arctic sea ice concentration anomalies for January 2022 relative to the December average for the period 1991-2020. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.
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Map of the Arctic with geographic labels. Background image from Natural Earth.

1981-2010

Left: Average Arctic sea ice concentration for January 2022. The thick orange line denotes the climatological sea ice edge for January for the period 1981-2010. Right: Arctic sea ice concentration anomalies for January 2022 relative to the December average for the period 1981-2010. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.
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Map of the Arctic with geographic labels. Background image from Natural Earth.

During January 2022, sea ice continued to expand mainly within and around Hudson Bay, where it had been well below average in previous months. The map of sea ice concentration anomalies shows only few regions with very large positive or negative anomalies, most notably, a large patch of above average sea ice concentrations is seen for January between Svalbard and Franz Joseph Land. On the Atlantic side, above average concentrations continuedto dominate in the Labrador Sea, while the Greenland, Barents, and Kara Seas were characterized by a mixture of above and below average values. On the Pacific side, the largest negative anomalies were found just south of the Bering strait, while in the Sea of Okhotsk the sea ice concentrations were above average along the coast, but below average along the sea ice edge.

Antarctic

1991-2020

Time series of monthly mean Antarctic sea ice extent anomalies for all January months from 1979 to 2022. The anomalies are expressed as a percentage of the January average for the period 1991-2020. Data source: EUMETSAT OSI SAF Sea Ice Index v2.1. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF/EUMETSAT.
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1981-2010

Time series of monthly mean Antarctic sea ice extent anomalies for all January months from 1979 to 2022. The anomalies are expressed as a percentage of the January average for the period 1981-2010. Data source: EUMETSAT OSI SAF Sea Ice Index v2.1. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF/EUMETSAT.
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In January 2022, Antarctic sea ice extent reached 4.4 million km² on average, 1.0 million km² (19%) below the 1991-2020 averagefor January. This value ranks 4th lowest in this 43-year satellite record. Lower January extents were recorded in 1988, 2019, and 2017, reaching 24% below the 1991-2020 average at its lowest in 2017. Note that the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) places January 2022 as the 2nd lowest in their data record.

1991-2020

Left: Average Antarctic sea ice concentration for January 2022. The thick orange line denotes the climatological ice edge for January for the period 1991-2020. Right: Antarctic sea ice concentration anomalies for January 2022 relative to the December average for the period 1991-2020. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.
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Map of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean with geographic labels. Background image from Natural Earth.

1981-2010

Left: Average Antarctic sea ice concentration for January 2022. The thick orange line denotes the climatological ice edge for January for the period 1981-2010. Right: Antarctic sea ice concentration anomalies for January 2022 relative to the December average for the period 1981-2010. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.
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Map of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean with geographic labels. Background image from Natural Earth.

The map of sea ice concentration anomalies for the Antarctic region for January 2022 shows a large reduction in sea ice compared to December, especially in the Atlantic and Pacific sectors. Overall, below-average concentrations dominated around the continent, though small regions of above-average concentrations can be found in nearly all sectors. Sea ice concentrations were most above average in the inner Ross and Amundsen Seas, as well as immediately to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula and across the outer Weddell Sea. The largest negative anomalies are found in parts of the Bellingshausen and outer Ross Seas.

Thesea ice analysis pageprovides additional information about the nature, production and reliability of the data and information presented here.

Thesea ice indicator pageprovides additional information about the long-term trends in both the Arctic and Antarctica.