The Arctic ice cap melted to hundreds of thousands of square miles below average this summer, according to data released late on Tuesday. Climate change is pushing temperatures up most rapidly in the polar regions and left the extent of Arctic sea ice at 1.79m sq miles at the end of the summer melt season. Arctic ice melt 'already affecting weather patterns where you live right now' Read moreScientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) said the rate of ice loss this summer had been slowed by cool mid-summer weather over the central Arctic Ocean. The fast shrinking Arctic ice cap is increasingly thought to have major impacts on extreme weather patterns much further south, due to its influence on the jet stream. The 2017 sea ice level fits with an overall steady decline over the decades, but one that varies from year to year, Scambos said.

Source: The Guardian September 20, 2017 10:18 UTC