It's been apparent for several years now that the Arctic is melting. But it's melting much faster than most studies previously predicted. As early as 2020 and no later than 2050, it will be almost completely ice-free, according to a new paper out this week. "It's pretty scary how rapidly all this Arctic change is happening," said James Overland, lead author of the new study, and a research oceanographer with the US National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "The Arctic is a real indicator of global change here, that's why we wrote the paper," he told The Verge