Stop the presses! Arctic melt ain't over 'til it's over.

So the fat lady sang, but I guess she hit just the right note and  shattered some more ice.  Or it could be those pesky greenhouse gases, which  always seem to be causing trouble….

That plot is from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (click to enlarge), whose latest value for sea ice extent (yesterday) is 4,832,813 km2.  There  appears to be a real chance JAXA's extent will drop below the 2008 level.

Their data for the last ten days shows how sharp this new downturn is:

09,07,2010: ...