Arctic sea ice shrinks to second-lowest 'summer minimum' on record

Sep 23, 2020

Broken up sea ice is seen from the window of a NASA Gulfstream III flight to support the Oceans Melting Greenland (OMG) research mission above the east coast of Greenland, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson - RC149DC88E20

On 15 September, Arctic sea ice extent fell to 3.74m square kilometres (km2). Image: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Daisy Dunne

Science Writer, Carbon Brief

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rctic sea ice extent from May to June in 2020 (blue), 2019 (green), 2018 (orange), 2017 (brown), 2016 (magenta) and 2012 (dashed brown). Image: NSIDC

A comparison of Arctic sea ice extent during the 2012 and 2020 summer minimums. On the map, light blue shading indicates the region where ice occurred in both 2012 and 2020, while white and medium blue areas show ice cover unique to 2012 and to 2020. Image: NSIDC

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