BRUSSELS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Daily global sea ice cover dropped to an unprecedented low in early February, reflecting the ongoing warming of the planet, the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service reported on Thursday.

Daily global sea ice extent, which combines the sea ice extents in both polar regions, reached a new all-time minimum in early February and remained below the previous record of February 2023 for the rest of the month, the report said.

The Arctic sea ice extent was 8 percent below average, marking the third consecutive month of record-low extent for its respective month, while the Antarctic sea ice extent was 26 percent below average, the fourth-lowest on record for February.

The report also said that February 2025 was the third-warmest February globally, with an average surface air temperature of 13.36 degrees Celsius.

The number was 1.59 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial levels, making February the 19th month out of the past 20 months in which the global average surface air temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level, a critical threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

"One of the consequences of a warmer world is melting sea ice, and the record-low sea ice cover at both poles has pushed global sea ice extent to an all-time minimum," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. Enditem

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