There was an alarming wake up call for scientists when they analyzed the arctic ice shrinkage finding the area around the North Pole had shrunk to the second-lowest level on record.

The natural shrinkage during the spring and summer months is expected before it builds up and grows again in the winter. However, the amount of ice that had melted this year was considerably more than they predicted as a normal amount.

“It was a stormy, cloudy, and fairly cool summer,” stated Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Historically, such weather conditions slow down the summer ice loss, but we still got down to essentially a tie for second lowest in the satellite record.”

High temperatures counteracted the cloudy conditions when it came to the high rate of melting causing much concern for the ongoing debate of climate change.

The data showed the arctic sea ice reached its lowest summer point on September 10. covering 1.6 million square miles which equates to 3,800 square miles less than the recorded data from 2007. The lowest its ever been was in 2012 when the ice only covered 1.3 million square miles.

Scientists are worrying this is a sign of worse times to come and insists on the rapid acceleration on dealing with climate change and the effects it will have on the planet as a whole.

“What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic,” Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann said. “It looks increasingly likely that the dramatic decrease in Arctic sea ice is impacting weather in mid-latitudes and may be at least partly responsible for the more dramatic, persistent and damaging weather anomalies we’ve seen so many of in recent years.”

For more information, you can visit the National Snow and Ice Data Center website.