Sea ice in Antarctica has hit a worrisome milestone, reaching its lowest recorded extent this week, according to data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center. The daily ice area recorded on Tuesday represents an all-time low: 2.25 million square kilometers (872,204 square miles).

While Arctic sea ice has shown a relatively steady decline in square mileage over the past three decades as global temperatures rise (see for yourself), its southern counterpart has yielded more erratic and controversial data since monitoring began in the late 1970s. The February 14 mark for Antarctic sea ice surpasses lows seen around this time in 1997.

In 2012, Antarctic sea ice actually hit a record monthly high, with scientists theorizing