Ice, Ice, Baby

We are more or less at the very peak of the melt season in the Arctic, even though melt will continue for another two and a half months.  Now I don't know how to read the inner clues of the ice pack, but so far, this season is a bit backward.  Last year was a record breaker - record shatterer, really - and each of the previous five years featured lower minimum extents than any of the years before 2007.  At the moment, this year's melt is a bit behind even the slowest of those six immediately previous seasons.

Will it catch up?  Or is this a rebuilding year?  Any expert (or other) opinions?

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