To coincide with the sea ice minimum, the UK Environmental Audit Committee today released a hard-hitting report from their inquiry into the UK's role in protecting the Arctic. We contributed substantially to this process, providing written and oral evidence.

In the three decades since records began in 1979, the area covered by ice in early September - the 'sea ice minimum' - has been decreasing, shrinking by around 13% per decade. To date, the record sea ice minimum was in 2007. That is, until last weekend.

On Sunday, the Arctic sea ice hit its lowest extent since consistent satellite records began three decades ago. And it is predicted to continue to shrink towards the end of September, according to NASA.