Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean declined to its second lowest level on record last month, satellite observations show.

NASA's National Snow and Ice Data Center reported the melting, citing its satellite data. The level almost hit the record low recorded in 2007, but without the unusual weather conditions that contributed to the extreme melt that time.

Although the atmospheric and oceanic conditions this year were not as conducive to ice loss, the meltdown almost hit the record low, said the NSIDC. It added that this reflects loss of multilayer ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, among other factors.

Scientists have observed a pattern of large-scale decline in the sea ice levels in the past three decades.

Joseph Comiso, senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., noted that the sea ice is not only declining, the pace of the decline is accelerating. And it is the older and thicker ice that is declining faster, thus, resulting into a more vulnerable perennial ice cover.

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The continued downward trend seen over the last 30 years was attributed largely to warming temperatures caused by climate change. Climate models have suggested that the Arctic could lose almost all of its summer ice by 2100, but recent years indicate this could come about faster than predicted.

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