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Dr Mark England, who led the study while at the University of Exeter and is now at UC Irvine, said: “Summer sea ice conditions in the Arctic are at least 33% lower than they were at the beginning of the satellite record nearly 50 years ago.

“Given this – and the indisputable fact of human-driven climate change – it may seem surprising to find a temporary slowdown in Arctic sea ice loss.

“It is, however, entirely consistent with climate model simulations and is likely due to natural climate variability superimposed on the human-driven long-term trend. This is only a ‘temporary reprieve’ and before long the rate of sea ice decline will catch up with the longer term rate of sea ice loss.

“It’s like the analogy of a ball bouncing down a hill where the hill is climate change, given by Professor Ed Hawkins. The ball continues going down the hill but as it meets obstacles in its path, the ball can temporarily fly upwards or sideways and not seem to be travelling down at all – that trajectory is not always smooth but we know that at some point the ball will careen towards the bottom of the hill.”

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