Antarctic seasonal sea ice

In winter, floating sea ice spreads far into the ocean around Antarctica, so the apparent area of the continent plus nearby sea ice can be nearly twice as large. The continent itself does not grow, and seasonal sea ice is not an extension of land. For the 1981–2010 averages, Antarctic sea-ice extent increased from about 2.8 million km² at the summer minimum to 18.6 million km² at the winter maximum.