This study was based on the daily sea ice concentration data from the NASA Team algorithm from 1998 to 2017. The Antarctic sea ice was analyzed from the total sea ice area (SIA), first-year ice area, and multiyear ice area. On a temporal scale, the changes in sea ice parameters were studied over the whole 20 years. The results showed that the total SIA increased by 0.0087 × 106 km2 year-1 (+ 2.08% dec-1) between 1998 and 2017. The multiyear ice area increased by 0.0141 × 106 km2 year-1 from 1998 to 2017. The first-year ice area decreased by - 0.0058 × 106 km2 year-1 between 1998 and 2017. On a spatial scale, the entire Antarctic was divided into two areas, namely West Antarctica (WA) and East Antarctica (EA), according to the spatial change rate of sea ice concentration. The total sea ice and multiyear ice areas showed a decreasing trend in WA. However, the total SIA and multiyear ice area all showed an increasing trend in EA. Therefore, Antarctic sea ice presented an increasing trend, but there were different trends in WA and EA.
Keywords: Antarctic; First-year ice; Multiyear ice; Sea ice melt duration; Total sea ice.