Recent variations in Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice covers

Abstract

Variations in the extents of sea-ice cover at the poles and the areas of open water enclosed within them were observed every other day during the interval 1978-1987 by a satellite-borne scanning multispectral microwave radiometer. A band-limited regression technique shows that the trends in coverage of the Arctic and Antarctic sea-ice packs are not the same. During these nine years, there are significant decreases in ice extent and open-water areas within the ice cover in the Arctic, whereas in the Antarctic, there are no significant trends. © 1991 Nature Publishing Group.