A polar research team uncovered findings that suggest the Arctic ice cap will disappear entirely during summer months within the next 20 to 30 years. Experts also revealed that the warmer months within a decade are likely to be almost essentially ice-free.
The expedition to the Arctic ice cap was led by adventurer Pen Hadow, and included Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels. The team took over 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice as they traversed the Arctic cap for 73 days during the northern spring.
Analysis of the raw data collected by the team has led to bleak forecasts regarding the condition of the ice cap. “The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated,” commented Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Cambridge University.
Hadow, Hartley and Daniels skied a route of 290 miles, starting in northern Canada, in an effort to measure the thickness of the remaining ice. The team assessed the depth and density of the overlying snow and recorded weather and sea temperatures. The findings reported an average thickness of ice floes at 1.8 meters, and 4.8 meters when incorporating compressed ridges of ice.
“An average thickness of 1.8 meters is typical of first year ice, which is more vulnerable in the summer. And multi-year ice is shrinking back more rapidly,” said Wadhams. “With a larger part of the region now in first year ice, it is clearly more vulnerable.”
Senior climate change advisor for the World Wide Fund for Nature’s international Arctic program, Doctor Martin Sommerkorn, admitted that these findings have serious implications for ice meltdown. He said that loss of the sea cover will “set in motion powerful climate feedbacks which will have impact far beyond the Arctic itself.”
“This could lead to flooding affecting one quarter of the world’s population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emission from massive carbon pools and extreme weather changes.”
These findings come during October’s Energy Awareness Month and will undoubtedly spark discussion at the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen this December. It is becoming increasingly obvious that our impact on this earth is unsustainable, but it is yet to be seen whether or not we will be willing to change our everyday lives, or simply continue to move forward with our heads down.
