Arctic Sea Ice extent in the 1980s and past few years

Shrinking sea ice extent means more dark ocean exposed, and more warming energy absorbed by Arctic waters, melting yet more ice. Late-summer sea ice across the Arctic shrank by an area equal to almost half the size of the entire European Union this decade compared to four decades earlier. What was left was smaller than at any time in at least 1,000 years. Scientists estimate that adding only 800 million tonnes more CO2 to the atmosphere will heat the Arctic enough to leave it practically sea ice free in the late summer. The way things are going, that’s just a few decades away.