Arctic Ocean sea ice coverage has shrunk to the lowest level since modern records began, smashing the previous record by 760,000 square kilometers (293,000 square miles).
On September 16, the day on which, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the region's sea ice appeared to end its summer retreat and begin its winter rebound, the total extent was 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles) - slightly more than half the average minimum extent between 1979 and 2000.
For the full article by Kieran Mulvaney see http://news.discovery.com/earth/arctic-sea-ice-reaches-new-record-low-1…