In support of their views, climate change skeptics have long pointed to the fact that Antarctic sea ice - unlike that in the Arctic - is actually growing.
The blanket of sea ice floating atop the Arctic Ocean has melted to its lowest extent ever recorded - since satellites began measuring it in 1979, to be exact.
Melting sea ice and global atmospheric warming are making the Arctic warm as much as four times faster than the global average, Australian scientists say.
Arctic sea ice has reached its second-lowest level since satellite observations began over 30 years ago, scierntists at the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center say.
