Major analysis finds "less ice covers the Arctic today than at any time in recent geologic history." - Paleoclimate study: "the Arctic temperature change consistently exceeds the Northern Hemisphere average by a factor of 3–4"

A first-of-its-kind analysis, "History of sea ice in the Arctic" (subs. req'd), by an international team of 18 top scientists led by Leonid Polyak concludes:

[E:]pisodes of considerably reduced sea ice or even seasonally ice-free conditions occurred during warmer periods linked to orbital variations. The last low-ice event related to orbital forcing (high insolation) was in the early Holocene, after which the northern high latitudes cooled overall, with some superimposed shorter-term...