News Earth Warm arctic summer melted much ice By Sid Perkins December 16, 2002 at 7:13 pm - More than 2 years ago Share this:Share Share via email (Opens in new window) Email Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X Click to print (Opens in new window) Print From San Francisco, at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union Satellite observations of the Arctic Ocean show that the amount of sea ice there this year was the lowest it’s been in more than 20 years. In September, the extent of the sea ice–defined as the area in which ice covers at least 15 percent of the ocean’s surface–was 5.27