What do you take from the fact that Arctic sea ice extent just surpassed last summer's record low?

It's definitely a significant and potentially a very troubling trend that we are seeing here. It's especially troubling during la Nina event when we should be expecting to see an increase in arctic ice. http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_mon... What this means now that we are well past the winter solstice is we are beginning with an ice deficit just as insolation begins to increase over the arctic circle.

The trend of the line now makes it very clear that there is now no way that ice cover has a chance at recovery to normal or even near normal levels. With a reduced albedo so early in the season, should we see a termination of la Nina, it’s anyone’s guess as to how much ice will be left in September, but it’s safe to say there won’t be much and we will set a new record.

in user-friendly words a real denier might want to check out this graph and say (the trend of lowering Arctic sea ice has been damaged) It has basically dipped lower than the record ranges of 2006/7 and tomcat sees a wreck contained in the shrink of ice, that is hilarious.

Only a true denier could look at this graph and say

(the trend of decreasing Arctic sea ice has been broken)

It has just dipped below the record levels of 2006/7 and tomcat sees a break in the decrease of ice, that is hilarious.

During most of the history of the Earth there has been no Ice covering the polls. The Earth is naturally returning to this state. My biggest problem is the bad science that the global warming kooks use to "prove" their point. Remember peer review and consensus irrefutably proved that the Earth was flat, then we got better facts.

I take from the fact that those who screamed that ice was back to 1979 levels were spreading misinformation from a BS source,and they knew it. Many are not here to spread the truth, but only to obfuscate.

Whatever you may choose to believe about comparisons of this year vs last year, the trend of decreasing Arctic sea ice has been broken, something is clearly changing in the Arctic, and I doubt it is a global warming signature, since global temperatures have been falling for several years now.

And it didnt just surpass last years record low, arctic ice is currently at the same level this year as it was last year relative to this date, you have a logic flaw. Please re-review the data you presented.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/cur...

EDIT Perviasc

Dana's graph is meaningless as a metric for measuring climate, my graph shows that Arctic Sea ice extent is much higher than what has been occuring over the last four years, and this is easily predictable by metric's such as the Multi-variate Enso index and Solar Cycle Length, 4 years from now when it is clear their wont be anymore global warming in your lifetime you will remember this moment.

EDIT DANA:

Don't forget on September 15 you will owe me 100 bucks.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ao6GW...

Obviously the data has been faked by unscrupulous scientists who are paid billions of dollars by the Islamo socialist environmentalists who control the UN and are attempting to enslave the world. Everybody knows there is more ice in the arctic and can tell by looking out their window.

i'm worried for our scientific team that are to walk to the north pole taking readings of ice thickness starting next month. they have kit for swimming but its much more hard work than walking!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jan/25/...

I think you misspoke in your last line. This current extent is below last winter's, not last summer's.

But that aside, I stick with the idea that no single statistic regarding any single month proves much of anything. And this statistic, like all the others, has to be considered in context.

In context this is another statistic that reinforces the evidence that the earth is getting warmer on the average.

This was a record cold in Alaska during the summer. They have been very cold. If the ice is less, the obvious explanation that most third graders and masters of science could figure out is a change in currents.