As an update to yesterdays post, I thought I would point out that the NIC shows Arctic Sea Ice minimum of 4.57 million sq. km. in 2007 on September 11.
That is 1.5 million sq km below todays data. Of course 2012 may still break that low, but it hasn’t yet.
sunshine hours 
Arctic ice extent for August 29 from NIC:
2007. 5.04 M sq miles
2012. 5.93 M sq miles
Yes, but I was comparing it to the lowest value for 2007 which was 4.57 million sq. km. in 2007 on September 11.