Now I have another question for you. How could Antarctic ice be growing if its hotter than hell up there? The world is coolin I tells ya!
Warmer air holds more moisture than colder air. Most of Antarctica is covered by a giant ice sheet, and it is so thick that the elevation at the surface of the ice is 7000-13000 feet above sea level across the interior of the continent. The combination of the polar location, the high altitude, and the lack of nearby ocean means that it literally never gets above freezing, or even close. The all-time record high temperature at
Amundsen-Scott station, right at the South Pole, is 10 F; the average high in mid-summer is -15 F, while the average low in mid-winter averages -81 F, and it commonly gets down below -100 F.
Vostok Station is even colder; that's where Earth's all-time record low of -128 F was recorded.
Because the air is so cold, it holds very little moisture, so Antarctica is a desert: only about 1 inch of precipitation (liquid equivalent) is recorded per year in the interior of the continent. Increase the temperature somewhat, and the amount of water the air holds will go up, but it's so cold that it's still well below freezing. The result is more snowfall. Even factoring in the melting that will occur along the edges of the
East Antarctic Ice Sheet, it will probably gain more in increased snowfall than it will lose to melting and evaporation for the rest of the century. Meanwhile, the much smaller
West Antarctic Ice Sheet is much more susceptible to melting and will lose more mass than it gains over the course of the century, contributing to sea level rise.
But now let's talk about sea ice. The North Pole is in an ocean, not a continent like Antarctica. When we talk about the Arctic ice cap, it usually refers to sea ice in the Arctic ocean, where it forms an "ice cap" only a few feet thick and floating on an ocean that is about 29 F (the melting point of seawater), which is far warmer than it ever gets in central Antarctica. This means that Arctic sea ice is one of the most sensitive indicators for climate change, along with mountain glaciers.
As we'd expect in a warming world, the Arctic ice cap/sea ice is in rapid decline. This year, its minimum coverage in September was very low; it tied with 2007 for second lowest on record, above 2012's historic minimum. But since then, it has failed to recover at anything like the normal rate, so as of right now, Arctic sea ice coverage is well below where 2012's was at this time of year even though it had a higher minimum. Here's a graph of 2016 Arctic sea ice extent compared to 2012 and the long-term average:
As for sea ice around Antarctica, the picture is fuzzier. There's a huge ice continent feeding ice into the Southern Ocean, and this causes sea ice extent to not show a consistent pattern. Right now Antarctic sea ice is at the lowest point we've ever recorded it for the time of year, but just two and a half years ago it hit a record high maximum. Here's that sea ice graph, with 2014 and 2016 highlighted.
Does this all make sense to you? I'm happy to answer any questions, because I like talking about science and we're living in a very interesting time. I can assure you that global warming is real, having spent a couple of years now in an atmospheric science department, spoken to climatologists, and grappled with the data myself. I would rather it turn out not to be real or be grossly exaggerated; it would be much better for our way of life if we were able to take full advantage of fossil fuels without worrying about anything but their eventual depletion. I'm really not much of an environmentalist myself. But I've seen enough to know that global warming isn't some sort of mass hysteria, alarmist groupthink, or conspiracy by environmentalists and/or liberals.