This year is only the second on record when the ice caps have measured below 2.48m square miles (four million square kilometres).
"We are headed towards a seasonally ice-free Arctic Ocean, and this year is another nail in the coffin."
Ed Blockey, the Met Office's scientific manager for polar climate, highlighted the significance of Arctic ice dropping below four million square kilometres."The Arctic is one of the most vulnerable regions on Earth to climate change and warming here will have consequences both for the region and the planet as a whole," he said.
Rod Downie, chief polar adviser at WWF, added that the Arctic was in"meltdown" and stressed the grave consequences this could have for the UK."The UK is the Arctic's closest neighbour and these extreme events affect us all, from changes in weather to increasing sea levels."In light of the"sobering" data, environmentalists are calling on the UK government to up their climate commitments at the COP26 global conference in Glasgow next year.
Speaking from the edge of the sea ice, on board the Greenpeace Ship Arctic Sunrise, Greenpeace campaigner Laura Meller urged officials to pledge to protect"at least 30% of our oceans by 2030".
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