Washington/Boulder, Colorado - Arctic sea ice melted to its second-lowest level since measurements began in 1979, the Colorado- based National Snow and Ice Data Center said Thursday.

The ice coverage of 4.67 million square kilometres had only recovered slightly from the 2007 record low of 4.28 million square kilometres, the centre said.

The most recent satellite measurement, taken on September 14, the annual lowest point in the cycle of melt and growth, reinforced the 30-year downward trend in Arctic ice cover, the center said.

When compared to the long-term average from 1979 to 2000, the 2008 figure was 34 per cent lower than that average.

Denver, Colorado  - Democratic activists who were disappointed over Senator Hillary Clinton's loss of her party's nomination called Republican John McCain's vice presidential choice strategically "brilliant."

McCain named as his running mate Alaska Governor Sarah Palin - a young woman unionist and mother of five who has a son heading to Iraq with the US army.

"It's a brilliant, spectacular move," Mary Boergers, a Maryland state senator and unhappy Democratic delegate for Clinton told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.