An interesting article from BBC news and Mark Kinver telling us that “The extent of sea ice has been declining over the past 30 years
Arctic sea ice is expected to retreat to a record low by the end of this summer…

Measurements made by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) showed the extent of sea ice on 8 August was almost 30% below the long-term average.

Because the region’s melting season runs until the middle of September, scientists believe this summer will end with the lowest ice cover on record.

…
NSIDC data showed sea ice extent for 8 August as 5.8m sq km (2.2m sq miles), compared to the 1979-2000 August average of 7.7m sq km (3.0m sq miles).

The current record low was recorded in 2005, when Arctic sea ice covered just 5.32m sq km (2.09m sq miles).”
The article shows that “If you look at data for the first week in August, we are way below what we saw in 2005,” and as explained Mark Serreze, a senior research scientist at the NSIDC,
” unless something really changes, for example the Arctic suddenly becomes a lot colder, it is going to be hard not to beat the previous record.”