Photo: Ice at the top of the world

This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS image of Arctic sea ice from the Canadian Ice Service combines satellite data from Aug. 11 to Aug. 17, 2015 to show you what’s still frozen here. Sea ice extent usually hits its annual minimum extent in September. According to sites that monitor such things, the minimum ice extent is currently tracking below that of the last five years. The Northern Sea Route is currently open water while the Northwest Passage remains clogged with ice, as is evident in the above photo. This year’s maximum ice extent — the lowest on record at 14.54 million square kilometres — occured on Feb. 25, 2015. The CIS says average air temperatures in the eastern Arctic were near normal for most of August and predicts temperatures from now into September will be above normal over most locations except southwestern Baffin Bay.