Sea ice melt

Neven has the full story, but the Arctic ice extent is still reducing; area not so much. The JAXA SIE has 2015 now below 2007, but still well above 2012. Whether it will finish below the 2007 minimum is unclear, since 2007 continued melting for a long time. But either second place or third looks likely.

In the same table, NSIDC has 2015 fourth, but just behind and likely to overtake 2011, which did not melt much in September.

In the Antarctic, NSIDC SIE had been briefly rising, but now some melt again. It's below all years since 2008.