Messing up Global Warming predictions, Antarctic Ice Cover reaches new high

WINTER sea ice cover in the Antarctic has grown to its largest extent since satellite records began in the late 1970s, defying most climate models and muddying the waters of the global warming debate.

The latest data from NASA's satellites shows the winter sea ice cover around the frozen continent reached a record 19.47 million sq km last month. That beats last winter's 19.44 million sq km -- itself a record.

According to NASA, it is 3.6 per cent higher than the average maximum between 1981 and 2010, with the sea ice cover in Antarctica growing at 1.5 per cent a decade.

The data runs contrary to the projections of many climate-change models. It also contrasts with observations of this year's Arctic summer minimum sea ice extent, which America's National Snow and Ice Data Centre says was about 30 per cent below levels seen in the early 1980s.

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