NASA On Air: NASA Monitors 'New Normal' Of Arctic Sea Ice (8/19/2016)

LEAD: NASA scientists expect the area of Arctic sea ice by the end of the summer will be between the 3rd and the 7th lowest since the satellite records began in 1978.

1. The continual decline of sea ice over the past 38 years has become "the new normal."

2. The increased melting is driven primarily by the warmer Arctic climate, but it also depends on the summer's changing weather patterns of clouds and winds.

TAG: A new NASA satellite, ICESat-2, will be launched in 2018 to use lasers for more detailed observations of how the sea ice is thinning.