Arctic sea-ice extent and volume are declining rapidly. Several studies project that the Arctic Ocean may
become seasonally ice-free by the year 2040 or even earlier. Putting this into perspective requires information
on the history of Arctic sea-ice conditions through the geologic past. This information can be provided
by proxy records fromthe Arctic Ocean floor and from the surrounding coasts. Although existing records are
far from complete, they indicate that sea ice became a feature of the Arctic by 47 Ma, following a pronounced
decline in atmospheric pCO2 after the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Optimum, and consistently covered at
least part of the Arctic Ocean for no less than the last 13–14 million years. Ice was apparently most widespread
during the last 2–3 million years, in accordance with Earth’s overall cooler climate. Nevertheless,
episodes of considerably reduced sea ice or even seasonally ice-free conditions occurred during warmer
periods linked to orbital variations. The last low-ice event related to orbital forcing (high insolation) was in
the early Holocene, after which the northern high latitudes cooled overall, with some superimposed shorterterm
(multidecadal to millennial-scale) and lower-magnitude variability. The current reduction in Arctic ice
cover started in the late 19th century, consistent with the rapidly warming climate, and became very
pronounced over the last three decades. This ice loss appears to be unmatched over at least the last few
thousand years and unexplainable by any of the known natural variabilities