According to a report in Sydney Morning Herald, figures from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre, supported by satellite imagery from the US space agency, NASA, shows the northern summer melt peaked during this week when the Arctic sea ice dropped to 4.52 million square kilometres, the second-lowest spread on record.

The figures put the size of the Arctic sea ice at the end of the northern summer about one third lower than the average recorded over the last three decades.

"This year further reinforces the strong negative trend in summertime ice extent observed over the past 30 years," analysts at the ice data centre said in their latest report.

Chances that the Arctic would be able to recover from this record melt are now slim. s the sea ice fails to return, there are concerns the melt will become one of the "tipping points", pushing the planet towards faster climate change.

Scientists fear the vast Arctic sea ice, which covers the North Pole, could disappear in summer within a few decades.

"We might see an ice-free Arctic Ocean by the year 2030, within some of our life times," the centre's Mark Serreze told the Herald. "There are some scientists out there who think that even might be optimistic," he added.