Climate change research: Weather hampers Arctic mission

Abigail Edge
The Guardian, Thursday 16 April 2009

Extreme weather is hampering attempts by a team of three British explorers to examine the effects of climate change on Arctic sea ice around the north pole.
The Catlin Arctic Survey mission, led by Pen Hadow, is travelling about 600 miles on foot to the pole, and set off on 2 March. Despite rigorous testing before the expedition, a pioneering radar system designed to establish ice thickness without drilling and an onboard sledge computer kit have both been disabled by brutally cold temperatures. A fault has prevented the use of a probe which measures the water beneath the floating sea ice, and there have been problems with equipment to monitor the health of the explorers remotely from London.
Simon Harris-Ward, the survey's director of operations, said: "The extreme weather, even by Arctic standards, has affected much of the team's standard kit. They've had breakages to equipment such as stoves and skis because of the harsh conditions."
Typical daily temperatures are still as low as -40C, with wind chill making it feel still colder. But despite equipment failures, the team have continued their work using more traditional survey methods.
Hadow said finding "first-year ice" in this part of the ocean had been unexpected. It pointed to a smaller summer ice covering around the north pole this year. In 2007 alone, the Arctic sea ice lost an area nearly the size of Alaska. The US national snow and ice data centre calculates the sea ice is receding by 11.7% a decade.
The survey is supported by the UN environment programme, the Prince of Wales, and conservation charity WWF.