Antarctic sea ice shrinks to smallest ever extent

Data contradicts climate change sceptics, who have pointed to earlier increases in areas of sea ice to support their views

Sea ice around Antarctica has shrunk to the smallest annual extent on record after years of resisting a trend of manmade global warming, preliminary US satellite data has shown.

Ice floating around the frozen continent usually melts to its smallest for the year towards the end of February, the southern hemisphere summer, before expanding again as the autumn chill sets in.