Why Arctic sea ice just crashed to an extreme, record low

Where there should be ice-clad seas, there is vast, open ocean. Arctic sea ice — declining now for decades — has plummeted to a record-low for this time of year. The oceans above Russia and Siberia have a particularly glaring lack of ice.  "Right now it’s quite extreme," said Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.. To appreciate the exceptional loss of ice, take a look at the map below. The orange line shows where ice typically is on July 19. Clearly, the sea ice is vastly diminished. Record low Arctic sea ice extent. Image: nsidc Sea ice is the lowest on record along the Siberian side of the Arctic, especially in the Laptev Sea, noted Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at Colorado State University's Department of Atmospheric Science. In total, Arctic sea ice is about 500,000 square kilometers (some 193,000 square miles) under the previous record low for this time of year. Read more...More about Science, Arctic, Global Warming, Climate Change, and Science