British Explorers Embark On North Pole Journey
Renowned Arctic explorer Pen Hadow and two companions have set out on a grueling 90-day trek to the North Pole, collecting data along the way to determine precisely how fast the Arctic sea-ice is melting, according to the London-based Catlin Arctic Survey.
The British explorers were dropped onto the ice by plane about 668 miles off the northern coast of Canada on Saturday.
The data the team collects will augment satellite and submarine observations and help experts create a modeling of the polar ice.Â
Such experts include Wieslaw Maslowski, an advisor to the survey and an instructor at the US Navy Postgraduate Naval School in Monterey, California. Maslowski recently predicted the Arctic Ocean could be ice free within the next four years, the Catlin Arctic Survey said in a statement.
Global warming is believed to be the primary cause of the rapidly melting north polar ice cap. It’s disappearance is freeing up new sea routes and untapped mineral resources on the ocean bottom.
The three expedition members — team leader and project director Hadow, 46, Martin Hartley, 40, and Ann Daniels, 44 — will ski most of the way, gathering millions of measurements of the thickness of the remaining ice in winter and early spring – when the ice reaches its greatest extent.
They will also work to assess the density of the ice, the depth of the overlying snow and will obtain direct weather and sea temperature readings along the route.
The mission aims to give scientists the most up-to-date "ground truth", enabling them to refine and update their models and interpretation of satellite observations.
Mr. Hadow, who became the first person complete an unsupported solo trek from Canada to the North Pole in 2003, said the current expedition would be all about science and discovery.
"What we’re really doing is deploying [what are] usually considered bizarre or socially irrelevant skills and expertise and experience of being able to make these sorts of journeys across the surface of the sea ice and bending them to the needs of the scientific community," he said.
"We’re making the surface journey because that’s the only way we have of gathering these direct observations of how thick the snow and the ice is. That’s what the scientists really need to know."
"If, as scientists tell us, the ice is thinning quickly, then it should set alarm bells ringing around the world."
The team will be re-supplied every 20-25 days and will use satellite communications to submit data, videos and photos.Â
Those interested in monitoring progress of the journey, which could last up to 100 days, can do so by visiting the expedition’s Web site
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