Update of Feb. 28, 2009: see corrected graphs and news from the NSIDC here:

http://climatechangepsychology.blogspot.com/2009/02/nsidc-arctic-sea-ice-extent-graph.html

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Update of Feb. 18, 2009: Apparently, there was a problem with one of the sensors that feeds the data on sea ice extent to NSIDC beginning in January. By February 18, it was as large as 500,000 sq. km. They have taken the graph offline until they can get things corrected. See their explanation here (click here, and hit page-down two or three times).

Updated graph from Feb. 17, 2009:


Graph from Feb. 15, 2009: The last time I saw the National Snow and Ice Data Center Arctic Sea Ice Extent graph go off looking like a wet noodle, it was due to some data that had not been smoothed for a week or some such thing. These days, the legend says the graph is updated every day, but maybe not... (click on it to enlarge the details).

Link to the NSIDC's news page: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/