Extended Data Fig. 5: Comparison of decadal trends in Antarctic and Arctic sea-ice extent.

Satellite record of annual maximum (left) and minimum (right) sea-ice extent for Antarctica (purple) and the Arctic (blue), as in Fig. 2. Thin lines (upper panels) indicate linear decadal trends calculated across the length of the satellite record, which are also plotted as moving decadal trends (lower panels) with respect to the end-year of the decadal windows. The decadal loss trends in the Antarctic sea-ice maximum (left) for windows ending from 2018 or later are more abrupt and persistent than decadal trends in the Arctic sea-ice maximum across the satellite era. For the sea-ice minimum (right), persistent decadal-scale loss has occurred in the Antarctic for all decades ending from 2017 or later, and ice loss during the decades ending in 2022 and 2023 was more abrupt than any decadal loss trends in the Antarctic sea-ice maximum during the satellite-era. However, recent decadal declines in the Antarctic sea-ice minimum are not as abrupt as the rate of ice loss for the Arctic sea-ice minimum that occurred in the decades ending between 2007 and 2012.