Last month saw the lowest extent of Antarctic sea ice on record for July, according to a satellite monitoring group.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) found Antarctic sea ice extent reached 15.3 million square kilometres (5,900,000 square miles) – some 1.1 million square kilometres, or 7 per cent, below the 1991-2020 average for July.

This was the lowest ice cover for July since satellite records began 44 years ago, and followed record low Antarctic sea ice levels for June too.