Antarctica Shrinks Again

Antarctic has dropped to its second lowest in record, Australian authorities said on Friday, adding that it was not clear what was driving the reduction after several years of record highs.

The report came as scientists said earlier this week that the Arctic region was seeing record high temperatures, with sea covering the smallest area in winter since records began half a century ago.

 The Australian Antarctic Division said the latest satellite data showed a shrink of total 2.15 million square kilometres surrounding the icy continent in February during the summer reason.

The minimum record was set in march last year. Last year also saw a low record for the winter time maximum sea ice cover at 18.05 million square kilometres.