Annual minimum extent was 1.70 million square miles on September 11

A joint analysis by the US space agency and the National Snow and ICE Data Center (NSICD) in Boulder, Colorado found that the Arctic sea ice hit its annual minimum on September 11, when it retreated to 1.70 million square miles. The ice covered 1.7 million square miles (4.41 million square kilometers), seen here superimposed on the 1981-2010 average, drawn as a gold line.

Reaching its likely minimum extent for 2015, Arctic sea’s minimum ice extent was the fourth lowest in the satellite record since observations from space began. Either that, or global warming has changed the temperature at which ice melts.

“The ice cover becomes less and less resilient, and it doesn’t take as much to melt it as it used to”, said Meier. Some areas were warmer than the previous year , but other places were cooler, Meier said.

According to NSIDC, this year’s maximum Arctic ice, measured in February, was the lowest on record.

“The sea ice minimum measurement is a devastating reminder of how fast we’re hurtling towards an unstoppable climate crisis”, said Mary Nicol of Greenpeace U.S. in a statement released Tuesday.

On a final note, while it’s true that, as NSIDC added, “the nine lowest extents in the satellite era have all occurred in the last nine years”, why is it that satellites are suddenly relevant? “In the past, Arctic sea ice was like a fortress. We’re never going to find the solutions to the melting Arctic at the bottom of an Alaskan oil well”. Scientists believe it is one of the most tangible results of an overall warming Earth.

Frigid nights and the sun’s disappearance ensure the ice will begin to grow in the coming months. But researchers at NCAR and elsewhere are now working to see if the models can be used to make shorter-term decadal predictions of sea ice changes, a timeline that is important to policy makers, residents of the region, and others.

Scientists aren’t soothed by the slight bump in sea-ice minimums since 2012; the numbers are still low and represent an ongoing downward trend. The ocean could only attack it from the sides. A big “hole” appeared in August in the ice pack in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, north of Alaska, when thinner seasonal ice surrounded by thicker, older ice melted.

World Wildlife Fund spokesperson Margaret Williams told USA Today that humans’ increasing use of fossil-based products is to blamed for the seemingly irreversible ice loss in the Arctic Sea. According to the report, El Nino causes higher sea level pressure, warmer air temperatures and warmer SST’s in West Antarctica that can reduce the distribution of sea ice in that region.

This could explain why this year the growth of the Antarctic sea ice cover dipped below normal levels in mid-August.

Ten years ago, Arctic sea ice set a new record unlike anything previously observed.