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In summer months, icebreaking ships head north into the Arctic Ocean, tearing through the sea ice and leaving trails of open water in their wakes.
Last year, many scientists blamed intense North American winter storms on Arctic Oscillation. This year, AO started in "opposite mode," leaving Alaska blanketed in snow and the Lower 48 with warmer temperatures.
"Whether this year was lowest or second-lowest isn't important in the big picture of climate change," says a scientist from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Greenland is losing ice. But can scientists pin calving Arctic glaciers on climate change?
Ice thickness is hard to measure, especially on a large scale, and scientists want to know lots of variables about Arctic sea ice -- extent, depth and vulnerability. How do you study how sea ice is changing underneath its surface?
Most of the predictions for this year's summer ice extent suggest that the ice will again fall far below normal, with about two-thirds of the estimates projecting a minimum sea ice extent lower than last year.
Like plastic wrap covering a bowl of soup, Arctic sea ice keeps the churning ocean underneath from splashing against the coast. As ice melts, ocean tears coastlines, flooding seaside villages.