August 26, 2021: Over the past week the sea ice has now decreased from last week by a slightly greater rate of 4.49% from the level on 08/19/2021 of 5.592 M km2 to
5.341 M km2 for this week. The rate of loss at this time is not as low as in 2020, however, it is now above the all-time low season of 2012. With about a month or so left in the ice loss season, a record for this season seems unlikely at this point. In fact, the sea ice extent at this time of year is probably the highest it has been over the past several years.
