While albedo loss is most pronounced in August, the paper points out the drop in early summer is most important for global temperature, as that's typically when solar output is at its highest.
A warming Arctic has implications for the neighbouring Greenland ice sheet and Arctic wildlife - from the smallest algae to the biggest predators. On top of these more established impacts, scientists think sea ice loss might be disrupting winter weather in the northern hemisphere - another way that the impacts of change at the top of the planet might extend well beyond just the Arctic region.