--- title: Climate Change: Arctic Sea Ice Has Disappointing Winter description: The high point for Arctic sea ice levels hit a record low this winter, sea ice monitors said Wednesday. canonical: https://time.com/4709913/arctic-sea-ice-winter/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-22T22:20:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:58:58.476Z article:section: Science og:title: Arctic Sea Ice Has Disappointing Winter og:description: Temperatures were more than 9°F warmer than average this winter og:url: https://time.com/4709913/arctic-sea-ice-winter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3969cdc987e71ff/6988bf7b196cf4e69103f588/arctic-sea-ice-winter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5000 og:image:height: 2813 og:image:alt: arctic sea ice winter og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Arctic Sea Ice Has Disappointing Winter twitter:description: Temperatures were more than 9°F warmer than average this winter twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3969cdc987e71ff/6988bf7b196cf4e69103f588/arctic-sea-ice-winter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Arctic Sea Ice Has Disappointing Winter > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 22, 2017 10:20 PM UTC  View of the pack ice south of the island of Edgeoya in Svalbard, Norway. View of the pack ice south of the island of Edgeoya in Svalbard, Norway. Wolfgang Kaehler—LightRocket via Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Mar 22, 2017 10:20 PM UTC The high point for Arctic sea ice levels hit a record low this winter, sea ice monitors [said](http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/) Wednesday. Sea ice covered approximately 5.57 million square miles on March 7, nearly 500,000 square miles below the average winter high in recent decades, according to preliminary numbers from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). Arctic sea ice cover fluctuates from season to season. In early March, it typically hits its highest level of coverage before melting again in the spring and summer months. Scientists attribute the low sea level to an usually warm fall and winter. Temperatures around the globe have spiked in recent years due to man-made climate change, leading to several years of record-breaking heat, and few places have been hit harder than the Arctic. Temperatures over some parts of the Arctic were more than 5°C (9°F) warmer than average between October and February, according to NSIDC. **Read More:** [It’s Hard to Describe Just How Badly the Arctic Is Doing](http://time.com/4600091/arctic-climate-change/) The report is the latest in a [string of disappointing news](http://time.com/4600091/arctic-climate-change/) about the state of the Arctic. A December report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that the Arctic experienced the lowest snow cover and highest land temperatures on record last year. And sea ice levels also reached a record low [last fall](http://time.com/4496074/arctic-sea-ice-levels/). Scientists studying man-made climate change worry that the situation in the Arctic may bode poorly for the rest of the planet. Countries [reached an agreement](http://time.com/4146764/paris-agreement-climate-cop-21/) in 2015 to try to keep temperatures from rising more than 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels by 2100, a target scientists say is the level the world must meet to avoid the worst effects of climate change. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4709913/arctic-sea-ice-winter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4709913/arctic-sea-ice-winter/"},"headline":"Arctic Sea Ice Has Disappointing Winter","datePublished":"2017-03-22T22:20:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:58:58.476Z","description":"Temperatures were more than 9°F warmer than average this winter","url":"https://time.com/4709913/arctic-sea-ice-winter/","keywords":["climate change","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3969cdc987e71ff/6988bf7b196cf4e69103f588/arctic-sea-ice-winter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta3969cdc987e71ff/6988bf7b196cf4e69103f588/arctic-sea-ice-winter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"arctic sea ice winter","caption":"arctic sea ice winter","creditText":"Wolfgang Kaehler—LightRocket via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/climate-change/","name":"climate change"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4709913/arctic-sea-ice-winter/","name":"Arctic Sea Ice Has Disappointing Winter"}}]}] ```