Agence France-Presse: The Arctic ice cap is thinner than ever, satellite observations revealed Monday, while also indicating that the sea ice cover continues to shrink due to global warming. This winter saw the fifth lowest maximum ice extent on record since monitoring by satellite began in 1979, said the Colorado-based National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The period between 2004 and 2009 saw the lowest ice extent, said Charles Fowler, a University of Colorado (CU) glaciologist who led a team …