Arctic Seas Ice Levels:

Over to the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) website - nsidc.org - for this one:

In September 2005, after four years of lower-than-average fall sea ice extent, scientists using satellite data determined that the Arctic sea ice extent had reached a new record low: 5.32 million square kilometers (2.09 million square miles) versus the long-term average [Magenta line on the picture opposite] of 7.7 million square kilometers (2.97 million square miles).
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The bottom line is that Arctic sea ice extent for 2007 is on pace to set a new record minimum that could be substantially below the 2005 record.

So, what does this all mean? 5 million square kilometres is still a heck of a lot of ice isn't it? Not when the coverage was more than 7 million just over a decade ago.

Ice reflects heat back out into space, while the ocean absorbs around about 90%. The more ice that melts, the warmer the arctic gets. You can see where this is heading. Leaving aside the ecological disaster - kiss polar bears goodbye for a start - the reduction of the arctic ice cover is dumping more and more pure water into the northern oceans. The risk of stalling the sea currents that bring warm air to the northern hemisphere is becoming greater.

Scientists talk about dramatic climate change coming in sudden snaps. How near are we getting to the next one?