Arctic sea ice covered 3.7 million square kilometers (1.4 million square miles) in September, the smallest area this year and the second-smallest since satellite monitoring began four decades ago.
The figure marks the second time that Arctic sea ice dropped below 4 million square kilometers, according to data released Monday by the U.S.’s National Snow and Ice Data Center. The all-time low was registered on September 17, 2012, when the ice shrank to 3.4 million square kilometers.
“The year 2020 will stand as an exclamation point on the downward trend in Arctic sea ice extent,” said Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC, in an emailed statement. ...