This year’s record lows in arctic sea ice have been matched by record highs in media coverage of things arctic. Records for ice area have been smashed then smashed again, fabled sea routes have opened, countries have started jockeying for rights to the sea floor, polar bears over swathes of the ice are under threat, and more. Now, though, the spate seems to be coming to its natural end as melt season comes to its close and stock is taken.

Researchers at the US the National Snow and Ice Data Center have analysed the season and found ice ended up 39% below the long-term average from 1979 to 2000 and 23% below the previous record set in 2005. Global warming is partly to blame for this but other factors such as unusually cloudless skies are also implicated (NSIDC press release).

The New York Times reports that experts are (still) worried, with one saying: “Our stock in trade seems to be going away.” This is basically the same story that has been being written for the last month – the 2005 records were actually broken in August and the ice continued to melt well into September. This hasn’t stopped Reuters and the Times revisiting the issue now and the latter has produced a rather snazzy graphic of the ice decline.

In other arctic news, lack of sea ice could have been a contributory factor in the break up of the giant Ayles Ice Island, says the BBC. The “Manhattan-sized berg” has split in two “far earlier than expected”. And there’s more bad news for the polar bears – an expert at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in another NY Times article says there are two paths open to them at the moment: a slow decline or a fast decline.

Image: composite satellite image taken September 15 and 16 / NSIDC