According to the Business Insider website on the 17th, satellite images from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in the United States showed that the sea ice area in Antarctica hit a historic low in mid September. The sea ice on both the Arctic and Antarctic Earth is decreasing. In Antarctica, after detecting record low levels in 2017 and 2022, sea ice area reached its lowest level in history at least twice in 2023. As of the 17th, satellite data showed that there is only 16.892 million square kilometers of sea ice around Antarctica, which is 1.5 million square kilometers less than the average sea ice area in September and far below the previous low point recorded in Antarctic winter. The disappearing area is approximately five times the size of the British Isles. In contrast, the sea ice area detected on the same day in 1986 was 17.834 million square kilometers. The report states that Antarctica is affected by global warming in many ways. Since the 1950s, the average annual temperature in Antarctica has increased by 3.2 ℃, with a warming rate more than three times the global average. According to the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Union, its oceans are also warming faster than other parts of the world. In the 1980s, Antarctica lost an average of 40 billion tons of ice per year. By 2020, this number has expanded more than sixfold to 252 billion tons per year. Since the 1990s, the disappearance of land ice in Antarctica has led to a sea level rise of 7.2 millimeters. Scientists have warned that an unstable Antarctica could have a profound impact on the Earth's climate, forcing global temperatures to rise and potentially devastating consequences for humanity. The huge ice layer in Antarctica regulates the temperature of the Earth, and its white surface reflects the energy of the sun back into the atmosphere and cools the water below and near it. Experts say that without ice to cool the Earth, Antarctica could transform from a "refrigerator" to a "radiator". (New News Agency)