Michael Marshall, environment reporter
(Image: NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio )
It's finally happened. As the this image shows, on 16 September the Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest extent on record.
According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, the sea ice covered just 3.41 million square kilometres on 16 September. The previous record of 4.17 million km2 was set in 2007, but was broken on 26 August.
The sea ice shrinks every summer as the Arctic warms up, then expands in winter. It seems that the summer shrinkage has stopped for this year, although if the winds change the ice could become more compacted.
This year's record low illustrates how climate change is steadily wearing away at Arctic sea ice. Models predict that the Arctic is likely to see ice-free summers within decades, completely transforming the polar ecosystem and possibly bringing more extreme weather to Europe and North America.
The image is derived from satellite data. The yellow line shows the average minimum extent over the last 30 years.