The ice is 501,930 sq miles (1.3 million sq km) below the previous low record for this time of year – an amount that is more than five times the surface area of the UK.

Dr Ed Blockley, who leads the Met Office’s Polar Climate Group, said: “Antarctic sea ice extent reaches a maximum around the end of September and a minimum around the end of February.

“At the end of June, the extent of sea ice should be building to a mid-point between the maximum and the minimum.

“However, this year the ice is expanding very slowly with the consequence that the extent is way below the long-term (1981-2010) average.

“The annual minimum extent in February 2023 was the lowest since satellite records began in 1979, just over one million sq km (386,102 sq miles) below the long-term average.

“The current extent is extraordinarily low: it is in excess of 2.5 million sq km (965,255 sq miles) below average for the time of year.”

Scientists believe that El Nino, a cyclical phenomenon...