In 1988, there was a lot of 5+ year old ice in the Arctic. Thick, old ice like that can’t melt during the summer, but it can disappear during the winter due to wind blowing it out into the warm waters of the North Atlantic.
That is exactly what happened, as most of the older ice was lost during the winters of 1988-1996.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIuHBPjElHI&feature=player_embedded]
Good post. The 1990’s did have a seachange up there.
Andy