Fastest ever rate of Arctic sea ice loss

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, the rate of Arctic sea ice loss in August was the fastest on record for that month.

“The Arctic sea ice extent on Sept. 3 was 4.85 million square kilometers (1.87 million square miles), a decline of 2.47 million square kilometers (950,000 square miles) since the beginning of August,” the National Snow and Ice Data Center said Sept. 4.

As a result, although there are only about two weeks left in the ice melt season, it is possible that this year could see a record Arctic sea ice minimum. The current record minimum was set in 2007. The 2008 sea ice extent is already the second lowest recorded since the beginning of the era of satellite ice observations.

The Canadian Ice Service has reported continued calving of the ice shelves on the northwest coast of Ellesmere Island, to the northwest of Greenland, with two ice islands breaking away from the Ward Hunt ice shelf in July and the Markham ice shelf collapsing in August.

The Amundsen Northwest Passage route through the Canadian Arctic islands has been open for several weeks. The latest microwave satellite imagery of the Arctic also appears to indicate open water in the broader but more northerly McClure Strait Northwest Passage route.

—Alan Bailey