We have a way to measure the extent of ice, and as I understand it, it has to do with the different way sediments on the ocean bottom collect under the ice and under open water.
The melting now is unprecedented in recorded history. If all the ice melts in the summer, then that is the first time in like a million years or more that this has happened.
Edit: here's the Danish map from August 1923:
http://brunnur.vedur.is/pub/trausti/...23/1923_08.pdf It is melted around the edges, but not nearly what we have seen recently.
If the drought continues or reoccurs soon, it will be due to climate change. This may be a matter of semantics, though. The climate has changed, and so whatever happens will be part of the "new" climate conditions.
The drought is continuing and worse than 2012 and 2011:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/201...ses-the-issue/
