It is now 1st Nov, the unofficial start to the Global Sea Ice melting season (the date is variable due to Arctic freezing and Antarctic melting and how quickly the Southern melting becomes stronger)
Between now and mid-Feb, the Earth will lose approximately 10 million sq km of sea-ice....wow
The start figure for 31st October.....by decade is:
1980s - 27.21 million sq km
1990s - 26.92 million (minus 290,000)
2000s - 26.47 million (minus 450,000)
2010s - 25.62 million (minus 850,000)
31st October 2017 - 25.06
The first satellite data was available in 1979....so after 38 years we now have clear evidence that Oceans and World temperatures are out of control.....of course, sea ice can never totally disappear because the poles have 6 months of darkness each year so "temporary" sea ice will always form in the winter months.
The interesting thing to watch for this melting season is, will the Larsen Ice shelves continue to break up this year....brief video explanation of why this is critical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R2hlWAsbQ0