The researchers used data from previous publications to answer the question of why Arctic sea ice is responding to climate change much faster and more clearly than Antarctic sea ice, which has remained relatively stable according to long-term studies monitoring sea ice patterns in the Antarctic region. Their results were published in the journal Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research. “The differences in responses are explained by geographical, climatic and meteorological differences between the two regions. Arctic sea ice is located in the polar region and is surrounded by land, while Antarctic sea ice is located far from the polar region outside the Antarctic Circle," said Mohammed Shokr, first author of the paper. Antarctic sea ice is still affected in the form of calving (the formation of glaciers by the splitting of glaciers) and ice shelf melting, just not as rapidly as Arctic sea ice appears to be melting and thinning on an annual cycle. This naturally leads to more debate about the associated warming in the Arctic, where its effects are more immediately visible due to population density in the Northern Hemisphere. "Arctic sea ice is expected to mimic the seasonal behavior of Antarctic sea ice, namely, it forms in winter and almost completely disappears in summer," said Yufang Ye, an author and researcher at Sun Yat-sen University. Seasonal melting of Arctic sea ice and Antarctic ice shelves can vary depending on atmospheric and oceanic conditions, which can lead to less desirable effects on transportation, economics, and weather. Both regions have melting occurrences, but they occur for different reasons. This would suggest that each problem has the potential for its own answer, and that the two problems should not necessarily be viewed through the same lens. (according to Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Research (OLAR)