Warming causes record Arctic ice melt -U.S. report

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http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N28309784.htm

NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The Arctic ice shelf has melted for the fourth straight year to its smallest area in a century, driven by rising temperatures that appear linked to a buildup of greenhouse gases, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday.

Scientists at NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which have monitored the ice via satellites since 1978, say the total Arctic ice in 2005 will cover the smallest area since they started measuring.

It is the least amount of Arctic ice in at least a century, according to both the satellite data and shipping data going back many more years, according to a report from the groups.

As of Sept. 21, the Arctic sea ice area had dropped to 2.05 million square miles (5.31 million square km), the report said.