ANCHORAGE, Alaska — If the weather keeps up the way it's been, 2011 very well could prove to be another record low year for sea ice in the Arctic.
The big annual thaw is well underway in high-pressure conditions that are very similar to 2007; when climate researchers recorded the lowest ever level of summer sea ice.
“That is a pattern that we know tends to melt a lot of ice. It’s very warm,” said Mark Serreze, Director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Serreze said, if the pattern continues, this summer could easily reach another record low – but scientists won’t know for sure until mid-September, the usual end of yearly melting.
