Arctic sea ice shrinks to second lowest level ever

Arctic sea ice shrinks to second lowest level ever
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/16/weather/arctic-sea-ice-shrinking/index.html

Ice levels at the North Pole have shrunk to their second lowest level ever, scientists say -- and there could be worse to come.Every year the arctic ice naturally shrinks in the spring and summer before regrowing during winter, however the drastic melt in 2016 has surprised scientists.

"It was a stormy, cloudy and fairly cool summer," US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) director Mark Serreze said in a statement.

"Historically such weather conditions slow down the summer ice loss, but we still got down to essentially a tie for second lowest on the satellite record."

According to a new report released by NSIDC and NASA, arctic ice levels fell to their lowest levels this year on September 10, covering about 1.6 million square miles (4.4 million square kilometers), almost the same as in September 2007.

The lowest sea ice extent recorded was on September 17, 2012, when it fell to just 1.31 million square miles (3.39 million square kilometers).