Arctic sea is melting faster,says study:

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The Arctic sea ice is melting three times faster than many scientists project,US researchers reported on Monday,just days ahead of the next major international report on climate change.Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Colorado in Boulder concluded,using actual measurements,that Arctic sea ice has declined at an average rate of about 7.8%per decade between 1953 to 2006.By contrast,18 computer models used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,a UN-sponsored climate research group, estimated an average rate of decline of 2.5% per decade over the same period,the researchers said.Both the observations and projections from the computer models are for September,when Arctic sea ice is typically at its low point for the year.For March,when the ice is typically at its most extensive,the new study found the rate of decline was 1.8% per decade,about three times larger than the mean from the computer models.