Explorer finds many signs pointing to polar meltdown

The ice sheets covering the Arctic seas have thinned noticeably over the past seven years, most likely as a result of global warming, says a Norwegian explorer who has just skied alone across the top of the world.

Boerge Ousland, speaking after an 82-day trip in which he travelled 2100km from the northern tip of Russia to the North Pole and then down to Canada, said he had seen other evidence which hinted strongly at the effects of climate change.

The 38-year-old explorer, holder of four long-distance polar skiing records, measured the ice thickness as part of a study by the Norwegian Polar Institute. He made similar measurements on a trek from Russia to the North Pole in 1994.

"The ice toward the North Pole seems to be much thinner than normal and this made it much more broken so that the conditions were much more difficult than they had been in 1994 ... at around 87 degrees North it was up to a metre thinner," Mr Ousland said.

"I think that things are happening with [global] warming ... that the ice is getting thinner and there is less ice," he said.

Officials with the expedition said the depth of the ice measured by Mr Ousland ranged from 60cm to 1.8m.

Many scientists believe that increasing emissions of greenhouse gases - caused by burning fossil fuels - are contributing significantly to global warming.

Earlier studies showed the Arctic sea ice had thinned during the past 30 years or so to 1.8m from 3.1m and had shrunk by about 6 per cent since 1975.

Mr Ousland said he had noticed other distinct changes in the Arctic since 1994, including a much greater number of polar bears closer to the North Pole.

"I saw 50 or 60 polar bear tracks on the Russian side. In 1994 I saw two tracks, so that's a big, big change," he said. One explanation could be that thinning ice meant the bears needed to travel further to hunt seals, he added.

Mr Ousland said he had also been startled to see large pieces of driftwood from Siberia very close to the North Pole, another possible indicator that the ice was much thinner than usual.

- REUTERS

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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Summary: Climate Change 2001

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