The cap of ice that sits atop the North Pole has shrunk to a record extent and there is likely still more melting to come before the end of the summer of 2012. As of August 26, Arctic sea ice extent had shrunk to 4.1 million square kilometers, below the previous record minimum of 4.17 million square kilometers set on September 18, 2007.

A burst of melting in early August appears to have been the cause, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. At present, the sea ice seems to be losing an area the size of South Carolina each day roughly 75,000 square kilometers nearly double the usual rate observed in satellite images since 1979.