Antarctic sea ice edges up
After years of record lows, Antarctic sea‑ice this year showed a modest rebound — the annual minimum extent is “significantly greater” than the recent nadirs, but scientists warn the recovery is small and the system remains fragile. Researchers also released detailed subglacial maps showing buried mountain ranges that influence ice flow, and identified fungal proteins that act as ice nucleators — findings that could change how models represent cloud, precipitation and ice dynamics. (yourweather.co.uk) (natureworldnews.com) (sci.news)
NSIDC says Antarctic sea ice likely hit its 2026 seasonal minimum at 2.58 million square kilometres (996,000 sq mi) on February 26, 2026, placing this year’s low as the 16th smallest in the 48‑year satellite record. (nsidc.org) The 2026 minimum was about 730,000 km² larger than the record low observed on February 21, 2023, but remained roughly 260,000 km² below the 1981–2010 climatological average. (nsidc.org) NSIDC researchers attribute much of the modest rebound to strong southerly winds in January–February that pushed sea ice outward in the Weddell Sea, a regional weather pattern singled out by Ted Scambos and colleagues. (phys.org) A continent‑wide subglacial map published in Science used Ice Flow Perturbation Analysis (IFPA) to infer bed topography from satellite surface signals and revealed 71,997 hills plus a steep‑sided valley nearly 400 kilometres long in the Maud Subglacial Basin. (phys.org) The study’s authors say the newly resolved mountains, ridges and narrow valleys change basal friction patterns and will be integrated into ice‑sheet models to improve projections of glacier flow and potential sea‑level contribution. (phys.org) A separate paper in Science Advances identified a previously unrecognized class of membrane‑independent, water‑soluble ice‑nucleating proteins (INPs) in Mortierellaceae fungi, showing the genes are InaZ‑like and that expression in Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae produces ice nucleation. (science.org) Institutional releases from the research teams highlight that the fungal INPs are cell‑free and soluble—properties that have prompted immediate interest in applications ranging from cloud‑seeding alternatives and engineered snow production to cryopreservation and food‑freezing technologies. (eurekalert.org)
