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Experts say Arctic ice is disappearing at a `stunning' rate

The Arctic ice cap has collapsed at an unprecedented rate this summer and levels of sea ice in the region now stand at a record low, scientists said on Tuesday night.

The scientists said they were "stunned" by the loss of ice, with an area almost twice as big as Britain disappearing in the last week alone. So much ice has melted this summer that the northwest passage across the top of Canada is fully navigable, and observers say the northeast passage along Russia's Arctic coast could open later this month. If the increased rate of melting continues, the summertime Arctic could be totally free of ice by 2030.

Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center at Colorado University, which released the figures, said: "It's amazing. It's simply fallen off a cliff and we're still losing ice."

The Arctic has now lost about one-third of its ice since satellite measurements began 30 years ago, and the rate of loss has accelerated sharply since 2002.

"If you asked me a couple of years ago when the Arctic could lose all of its ice, then I would have said 2100, or 2070 maybe. But now I think that 2030 is a reasonable estimate. It seems that the Arctic is going to be a very different place within our lifetimes, and certainly within our children's lifetimes," Serreze said.

The new figures show that sea ice extent is down to 4.4 million square kilometers and falling. The previous record low was 5.3 million square kilometers in September 2005. From 1979 to 2000 the average sea ice extent was 7.7 million square kilometers. The minimum extent of sea ice usually occurs late in September, as the freezing Arctic winter begins to bite.

The sea ice then begins to freeze again over the winter. But Serreze said that would be difficult this year.

"This summer we've got all this open water and added heat going into the ocean. That is going to make it much harder for the ice to grow back. What we've seen this year sets us up for an even worse year next year," he said.
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