Boulder -- University of Colorado-Boulder scientists say arctic sea ice coverage recovered slightly this year, but still remains on a downward trend.
Researchers at the university's National Snow and Ice Data Center said the arctic's 2009 minimum sea ice extent was the third lowest since satellite record-keeping began in 1979. The past five years have seen the five lowest arctic sea ice extents ever recorded.
"It's nice to see a little recovery over the past couple of years, but there's no reason to think that we're headed back to conditions seen in the 1970s," said Professor Mark Serreze, director of the center. "We still expect to see ice-free summers sometime in the next few decades."
