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Last month saw the lowest spherical sea ice top for any February on book in a stark reminder of how our planet is warming , newfangled information reveal .
ocean ice is the frozen seawater that floats on the ocean ’s surface . As the planet warms , the amount of sea ice declines . In February 2025 , sea ice around the terminal reached an " all - time minimum " when compared with previous February ( records began in 1979 ) , accord to astatementfrom the European Union ’s Copernicus Climate Change Service .
Human and wildlife communities depend on sea ice to survive.
" One of the upshot of a warm humans is melting sea ice , and the record or near - disc low ocean ice cover charge at both poles has crusade ball-shaped sea ice cover to an all - prison term minimum,“Samantha Burgess , the strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium - Range Weather Forecasts , which enforce the Copernicus program , said in the program line .
ocean ice loss has the potential difference to trigger a cascade of untoward environmental shock , including for the human and wildlife communitiesliving on it . The thawing alsoaccelerates global warmingeven further as the newly exposed ocean beneath reflect less sunlight than bright glass does .
Related : scientist identify tipping point for Greenland ’s ice sheet — and it ’s not far off
Copernicus release monthly updates on ocean ice cover and global temperatures , so its assessments are based on billions of measurements from satellite , ship , aircraft and weather stations worldwide , according to the statement .
Last calendar month , Copernicus scientists announced that January 2025 was thewarmest January on record , even though Earth had enteredLa Niña , the cold phase of theEl Niñoclimate formula . The latest report revealed that February 2025 was the third warmest February on record . So it was n’t a record - breaker in that regard , but it did continue a worrying warming trend .
February 2025 was , on average , 2.86 degrees Fahrenheit ( 1.59 Celsius ) warm than preindustrial levels — the estimated mean temperature between 1850 and 1900 . reality leaders previously promised to limit warming to preferably below 2.7 F ( 1.5 C ) and well below 3.6 F ( 2 100 ) in the 2015Paris Agreement , a de jure binding international pact . However , Earth is now consistently above the 2.7 F target , with February 2025 the 19th calendar month out of the past 20 to infract 2.7 F.
Temperatures fluctuate from year to class , so mood change does n’t signify that every new calendar month is guaranteed to break book . However , there is a clear overall trend of the planet getting warm and warmer . Last year was the first completeyear to breach 2.7 Fand ended up as the hot year on record since preindustrial story .
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Not all region of the planet get warmer at the same pace . Last month , severe winter violent storm blast the U.S. withrecord - breaking cold , and Copernicus ' datum revealed that a ripe clod of North America was cool than average for February . However , temperature were mostly above average around the rest of the earth .
Temperatures in the high Arctic were particularly high , with scientists recording"extreme " warmingof 36 F ( 20 C ) at the North Pole on Feb. 2 , Live Science previously account . The Arctic is warming aroundfour times fasterthan the rest of the existence — an upshot linked to the melting sea ice .
Climate change threatensbillions of peopleworldwide . Theeffects of global warminginclude the fueling of wildfire and other utmost atmospheric condition event that demolish homes;rising ocean levelsthat peril the natural selection of coastal communities ; and drying agricultural lands that counteract our ability to produce food .
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