The Arctic has just reached its annual summer sea ice minimum extent for 2016, covering an area of 4.14 million km2. This is the joint 2nd lowest extent on record and is further evidence that the alarming decline of Arctic sea ice is continuing at pace.
This year’s minimum extent is well below the long-term average and scientists are warning that Arctic sea ice is not showing any signs of recovery. The 10 lowest extents on record have all occurred in the last 10 years and NASA is now calling the shrinking ice coverage “the new normal.”
During February parts of the Arctic were 16°C warmer than usual and earlier this summer, Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, was hotter than New York City. 
With 2016 looking set to be the hottest year since records began, Arctic sea ice is struggling to survive from one year to the next, growing thinner and more vulnerable year by year.