[palmer]

Ok, the plot does show we are a bit above normal. But the trend of that curve (the one in red) http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpg is down.

[alancarp]

Only for the past ~ten years - and my point is that we're still at/near normal levels. Were the "findings" of that study valid, you'd expect continually receding levels year over year (i.e., you gotta keep the ice out of the same land areas for multiple years to support "forests"). That's clearly not happening, as the data shows.... at least for the ocean ice.