Yep, Greenbelt, you beat me to it. The new ECMWF forecast is even worse for the longevity of the storm.
Here are their predictions for minimum pressure in the Arctic Basin, at 24h intervals, taken from
http://www.tropicaltidbits.com/analysis/models/?model=ecmwf®ion=nhem&pkg=z500_mslp&runtime=2016081312&fh=240&xpos=0&ypos=155987 hPa is 000h forecast for 12z Saturday, 13 August 2017
978 hPa is 024h forecast for 12z Sunday, 14 August 2017
968 hPa is 048h forecast for 12z Monday, 15 August 2017 (the overall lowest)
974 hPa is 072h forecast for 12z Tuesday, 16 August 2017
982 hPa is 096h forecast for 12z Wednesday, 17 August 2017
984 hPa is 120h forecast for 12z Thursday, 18 August 2017
984 hPa is 144h forecast for 12z Friday, 19 August 2017
974 hPa is 168h forecast for 12z Saturday, 20 August 2017
975 hPa is 192h forecast for 12z Sunday, 21 August 2017
982 hPa is 216h forecast for 12z Monday, 22 August 2017
982 hPa is 240h forecast for 12z Tuesday, 23 August 2017
The 240h prediction is as far as the ECMWF forecast goes.
The GFS forecast, however, goes all the way out to 384h (which is 17 days in the future, in this case at 18z on Monday, 29 August 2016 - presumably helpful only for the most stable of features). It broadly agrees with the ECMWF forecast for a persistent strong low pressure system out to 240h and then continues with the low pressure all the way out to its limit at 17 days! The low is predicted still at 990 hPa after 17 days, having never gone above 991 hPa beforehand - at least according to a cursory click through the forecasts.
Question for the experts: is this predicted stability plausible? Believable? If so, what are the intrinsic features that would provide for such stability.
In the scenario of a low pressure system in the centre of the Arctic Basin persisting at least until around the end of August, I'm presuming the ice would continue to circle and disperse while being eaten away by bottom melt.