Record decline in winter glaciers has dashed hopes that Arctic ice melting is not accelerating

In the early 2020s, an impression emerged that the rapid loss of Arctic sea ice observed in previous decades had slowed, and scientists began to…

However, new research reveals that this slowing conclusion was premature. The extraordinarily low winter ice seasons in 2025 and 2026 statistically reconfirmed the significant downward trend in glacier decline.