Antarctic sea ice set record low; Northern Hemisphere saw its 2nd-hottest summer
![Sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. (Image credit: Steve McGowan/National Science Foundation/Antarctic Photo Library/Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Sea ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_width_1275/public/2022-09/ArcticSeaice.jpg?h=ea143005&itok=keFBClV8)
After months of darkness, the sun rose briefly at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, on August 7, 2022. The flat white visible beyond the land is the annual sea ice that forms on top of McMurdo Sound. The darker area is open ocean water. By August, the annual sea ice normally is five or six feet thick and will extend 30 or 40 miles north before open water is visible. It is unusual to have open water this far south in August. Antarctic sea ice coverage hit a record low for the third consecutive month in August 2022. (Image credit: Steve McGowan/National Science Foundation/Antarctic Photo Library/Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)