As the extent of Arctic sea ice declines [1] to levels unrecorded since satellite monitoring began, the National Snow and Ice Data Center has released a new analysis [2] that shows the situation to be worse by far than even the most pessimistic models predicted.

It's a perverse endorsement of one of the most popular denier memes - that you can't rely on climate models because the world is too complicated to be reduced to a compilation of computer data. But, thanks to the expertise (and conservative nature) of the scientists behind this work, the models have shown the direction with perfect accuracy: it's the terrifying extent that they have failed to anticipate.

In addition to the catastrophic conditions currently prevailing in the Arctic, the NSIDC has also drawn attention to the dramatic melting [3] occurring this year in Greenland. And all this is supported and reinforced by the Polar Science Center's ongoing calculation of Arctic ice volume [4].

The trends are all down. Or as James Hansen put it in the Washington Post [5] last week, "Climate change is here - and it's worse than we thought."