June has set a record low of Arctic sea ice, while the extent of melting across the Greenland Ice Sheet this early in the summer has never been seen before.

Recently, temperatures in parts of Greenland soared to 40 degrees above normal, while open water (not covered by sea ice) is already being observed in places north of Alaska where it has seldom, if ever, been observed.

The current sea ice coverage in the Arctic is the lowest ever recorded for mid-June.

Rick Thoman, a Fairbanks-based climatologist, told The Washington Postthat the loss of sea ice over the Chukchi and Beaufort seas of Alaska’s…