Antarctic vs. Arctic Ice: Which Is Thicker? Antarctica by a Landslide

Antarctic ice is vastly thicker.

• Antarctica (ice sheet): Average thickness 2,160 m (7,087 ft); maximum in East Antarctica 4,800 m (15,748 ft).
• Arctic (sea ice): Average thickness only 1–2 m (3.3–6.6 ft); multi‑year ice up to 3–4 m.

Why the Difference?

• Antarctica is a continent covered by a massive ice sheet that accumulates over millennia and flows slowly outward.
• The Arctic is an ocean covered by seasonal sea ice; it cannot build thick layers because ice drifts, melts, and is exported through Fram Strait.

Greenland’s ice sheet (also continental) is similarly thick, but the question specifically compares Antarctica vs. Arctic Ocean ice.