According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the extent of the ice on 15th September was 1.96 million square miles, and was not expected to change much over the coming days.
That extent was 11,600 square miles below 2013's summer minimum and 440,000 square miles below the 1981-2010 average. The 2012 minimum reached 1.32 million square miles.
According to NSIDC scientist Julienne Stroeve, in the Laptev Sea off the northern coast of Siberia, open water came within 5 degrees latitude of the North Pole. This area has always had at least some ice cover since satellite recordkeeping started in 1979, even in some of the most dramatic melt seasons.
According to NSIDC, extremely warm sea surface temperatures that were 9?F above normal in the Laptev Sea combined with southerly winds from central Siberia, which is an extremely warm location on the globe, to clear the region of ice has resulted in the most northerly position that the ice edge has been recorded over the period of satellite observations in this area.
The 2014 summer melt continues the lasting trend of dwindling sea ice due to augmented Arctic warming.
The area of Arctic Ocean covered by a layer of sea ice always wanes with the seasons, reaching a maximum at the end of winter in March and a minimum at the end of summer in September.
However, warmer global temperatures induced by increasing greenhouse gas emissions have triggered a self-feeding cycle at the pole where white sea ice, which reflects incoming solar rays back to space, melts more than usual, leaving more open ocean, which absorbs that radiation. This absorption actually increases temperatures more, causing still more ice to melt.
NSIDC figures suggest that the average annual sea ice extent has been declining by 4.52 percent per decade. This amounts to a loss of about 20,500 square miles of ice per year.
Moreover, the September minimum has seen an even steeper decline of 13.7 percent per decade, or approximately 34,000 square miles per year.
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