Remember when 2012 seemed pretty far away? With barely a year until the Arctic was supposed to be "nearly ice-free", over 162,000 Manhattans of ice remain

Arctic Sea Ice Gone in Summer Within Five Years?

[2007] "The Arctic is screaming," said Mark Serreze, senior scientist at the government's snow and ice data center in Boulder, Colorado.
...
This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

IJIS Web Site

The latest value : 9,673,281 km2 (June 22, 2011)