Arctic sea ice reached record lows for winter this year, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center announced Thursday. Researchers found that the maximum level of sea ice this winter shrunk by 50,000 square miles compared to last, perhaps due to a warm February in parts of Alaska and Siberia. While the levels typically fluctuate from year to year — summer ice levels hit record lows in 2012, then rebounded some in the next two years — another recent study found that Arctic sea ice had thinned dramatically in recent decades as global temperatures have risen, thinning ice in the Arctic by 65 percent between 1975 and 2012.
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