Still Melting

The polar ice cap is the second smallest year on record.

For the second year in a row, the fabled Northwest Passage has opened in the Arctic—thanks to a sea-ice melt that has already shrunk the polar cap to the second smallest extent ever recorded. And with a few more weeks to go in the summer thaw season, 2008 could surpass 2007 as the smallest amount of sea ice on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).

A few more weeks to go before freeze up.

And, according to NSIDC, this year's melt is continuing at a "brisk pace," unlike previous record years, which slowed by the end of August. That means by late September a new low in global warming annals may be reached.