While studies indicate that global temperatures may not increase over the next decade, there is no respite for the Arctic sea ice, this year at least. There are very high chances, about 60 per cent, that the ice may shrink below the record minimum seen last year, says a press release issued by researchers at the Colorado Center for Astrodynamics Research, US. The melt, they say, is due to a combination of factors. One is caused by rising global temperature. The other reason, says Sheldon Drobot, part of the research group, is: "The current Arctic ice cover is thinner and younger than at any previous time in our recorded history and this sets the stage for rapid melt and a new record low.' The Arctic sea ice has vanished by about 10 per cent in the past decade.