The National Snow and Ice Datacenter reports that back-up satellite data has now been recalibrated, and published reports of polar sea ice are no longer provisional. Here is the updated time series, compared to the record low ice year of 2012, and statistics of the 1979-2016 survey period.

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_stddev_timeseries_thumb.png

Although the ice extent is lower on June 14 than its ever been (since records have been taken) on this date, it appears the 2016 ice cover is rapidly approaching the curve for 2012. Will summer 2016 break the record? Its too early to tell yet, but it looks like this year, if not a record, will probably come very close. By the way, the summer low-ice record is broken on the average about every 4 or 5 years, so we’re about due.

Here’s what the September Arctic ice levels have looked like from 1979 to 2015. Shall we get a pool going?

http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/files/2015/10/monthly_ice_09_NH-350×270.png