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Arctic Ocean's ice thickness in March is record big since 2019

March in the Arctic Ocean is the time for ice maximum, and further on the ice area begins to shrink

MOSCOW, April 10. /TASS/. The sea ice thickness at Cape Chelyuskin on the Taimyr Peninsula in March was record big since 2019 – it reached 162 cm, meteorologist at the Fedorov United Hydrometeorology Station, Alexander Fantalov, told TASS.

Usually, March in the Arctic Ocean is the time for ice maximum, and further on the ice area begins to shrink.

"As for the end of March, the ice thickness was 162 cm. In 2025, it was just 130 cm, in 2024 – 153 cm. And only in 2019, the thickness reached a high value of 170 cm," the experts said.

The Arctic's marine ice cover is estimated by two values – the area and the volume of sea ice. In order to assess the cover's dynamics, specialists use the so-called "ice minimum" and "ice maximum" rates. The first is normally recorded around the middle of September, and the second – in March.