NSIDC scientist: This year's rapid Arctic melt "suggests that the ice may have been on the thin side"

Arctic sea ice continues to shrink apace as we approach the dramatic end to this year's melt season.  The National Snow and Ice Data Center tells me  extent dropped to 4.76 million square kilometers today — which is below the majority of even the most recent expert predictions logged with the Study of Environmental Arctic Change (SEARCH).

Here's one of the sea ice graphs on the web I haven't posted before, from the University of Bremen (click to enlarge), one of the resources that SEARCH