Arctic sea ice cover likely melted to its minimum extent for
the year on September 16, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice
Data Center (NSIDC). Sea ice extent fell to 3.41 million square kilometers
(1.32 million square miles), now the lowest summer minimum extent in the
satellite record.
“We are now in uncharted territory,” said NSIDC Director
Mark Serreze. “While we’ve long known that as the planet warms up, changes
would be seen first and be most pronounced in the Arctic, few of us were
prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur.”