The average annual minimum area from 1979 to 2010 was 6.29 million square kilometers. Arctic temperatures from June through mid-August were 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to 3 degrees Celsius warmer than in a typical year.
“It used to be that the Arctic ice cover was a huge block of ice -- it melted from the edges -- but now it’s more like crushed ice,” he said. “Parts of the Arctic have become like a giant slushy.”
