DISQUS

POLAR EXPLORER PEN HADOW SETS DATE FOR SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF ARCTIC SEA ICE AS
FEARS GROW OF IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Leading polar explorer Pen Hadow today confirmed the go-ahead for a major
scientific expedition to measure the thickness of the remaining permanent Arctic
Ocean sea ice.
Credit: Polar Bears - Voyage Concepts Credit Martin Hartley/Catlin Arctic Survey

This pioneering survey, which starts in February 2009, is a collaboration with leading
scientists to help them more accurately assess the state of the
rapidly receding Arctic sea ice in a fragile region already affected by global
warming.

Current estimates as to how long ice will be a year-round feature around the
North Pole vary considerably, with scientific predictions ranging between five and
100 years. More accurate data, measured at the surface itself, is essential if
scientists and decision-makers are to fully anticipate the potentially devastating
impacts of near total sea ice loss each summer on millions of people across the
world.

The project, to be known as the Catlin Arctic Survey, has amassed substantial
financial backing for the £3m survey despite the gloom currently surrounding the
world economy and has secured support from UNEP (United Nations Environment
Programme), WWF International and the Royal patronage of HRH The Prince of
Wales. Hadow and his technical team have developed new equipment
specifically designed for the project, including an ice-penetrating radar and a
data uplink system to transmit its findings to scientists direct from the ice via
satellite.

On completion of the scientific project, the findings will be made available to
inform international decision-makers gathering at the United Nations Climate
Change Conference of Parties, at Copenhagen, in 2009.
The team of three highly-experienced explorers – Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley
as well as Hadow - will be travelling from mid-February to late-May, taking millions
of readings of the thickness of the floating ice over a 1200 kilometres (750 miles)
route. They will be pulling sledges and swimming between ice-floes from their
start-point 470 miles offshore of northern Canada to the North Geographic Pole in
temperatures from 0°C to -50°C.

http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/