The previous record low occurred in 2007.

 

Sea ice coverage in 2012 also remains below normal everywhere except the East Greenland Sea.

NASA study finds that perennial sea ice in the Arctic is melting faster than previously thought -- at a rate of 9 percent per decade. If these melting rates continue for a few more decades, the perennial sea ice will likely disappear entirely within this century, due to rising temperatures and interactions between ice, ocean and the atmosphere that accelerate the melting process.

On September 16, 2012 sea ice extent dropped to 3.41 million square kilometers, 760,000 square kilometers below the previous record minimum extent in the satellite record, which occurred on September 18, 2007.

 

That means there less ice in the Arctic which would cover all of Norway, Denmark and Finland combined.

Compared to September conditions in the 1980s and 1990s, this represents a 45% reduction in the area of the Arctic covered by sea ice. Typically, the melt season ends around the second Sea ice extent on the 16th of September 1982, 1992, 2002 and 2012. Click to enlarge. (Photo: Cryosphere Today).week in September.

In 2012, the rate of ice loss for August was 91,700 square kilometers per day, the fastest observed for the month of August over the period of satellite observations. In August 2007, ice was lost at a rate of 66,000 square kilometers per day, and in 2008, the year with the previous highest August ice loss, the rate was 80,600 square kilometers per day. This shows that the melt is faster then ever.