Arctic Ice Cover Sets New Record Low

With the presidential campaign and middle east turmoil grabbing all the headlines, Climate Change hasn’t gotten much coverage lately. But it’s still happening.

Following the new record low recorded on August 26, Arctic sea ice extent continued to drop and is now below 4.00 million square kilometers (1.54 million square miles). Compared to September conditions in the 1980s and 1990s, this represents a 45% reduction in the area of the Arctic covered by sea ice. At least one more week likely remains in the melt season.

This is the graph for August. The new one in September will need a new scale since the ice extent has fallen below 4.