While some scientists encouraged the creation of regulations governing fishing in the Arctic Ocean on Sunday, others published a report warning that the body of water could actually be a significant source of the greenhouse gas methane.

The idea that the Arctic is changing is not breaking news. Sea-ice extent has been declining by 12 percent per decade since 1979, and the ice is thinning too.

Today the U.S. National Research Council released a synthesis of reports from thousands of scientists in 60 countries who took part in the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08, the first in over 50 years to offer a benchmark for environmental conditions and new discoveries in the polar regions.

NSF partners with international team to gather new information on hidden environments and past climate conditions in Antarctica.

Researchers and flight crew with NASA's Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to study changes in polar ice, began another season of science activity with the start of the 2012 Arctic campaign on March 13.