Sea Ice is Shrinking at the North Pole, But Growing at the South Pole

Sea ice has been shrinking in the Arctic, at the "North Pole". See this side-by-side comparison of different years to get a sense of the shrinkage. For example, between September 1979 and September 2007, it shrunk from 7.2 to 4.3 million square kilometers.

But at the South Pole (Antarctic), sea ice has been expanding. For example, if you select the appropriate dates in this side-by-side comparison, you will see that the area covered by sea ice grew from 18.4 to 19.2 million square kilometers between September 1979 and September 2007.

Note: I wrote this article to attempt to understand for myself competing claims that ice at the poles was growing or shrinking.

This essay isn't trying to argue or interpret. Rather, it is just presenting facts. It also obviously provides a comparison solely of September 1979 to September 2007 ice coverage, and makes no claims as to any other years. Please analyze other years and other sources of data for yourself and draw your own conclusions.