An area of ocean that extends from the permanent ice zone to the boundary where winter ice extent is at a maximum. (searcharcticscience.org)
The record had been expected and follows a trend over the last three years of anomalously high winter ice extents around the southernmost continent — a trend that provides a stark contrast to the inexorable decline of Arctic sea ice, which it's sixth lowest summer extent on record last month. (scientificamerican.com)
These record low winter ice extent conditions were largely a result of a much warmer winter than average, which led to a reduction in the number of freezing degree days (Figure 5). (arcus.org)