Arctic ice vanishing
ABOARD CCGS AMUNDSEN–Canada's largest research project in International Polar Year has been forced to switch gears because Arctic sea ice is disappearing faster than anyone imagined.
Massive shrinkage of the permanent ice pack last summer scuppered plans to run continuous measurements and experiments starting this month at a semi-permanent base out on the ice, south of Banks Island in the Western Arctic.
The experiments were an important part in a four-year, $40 million study of the unprecedented impact of climate change on the entire Arctic ice ecosystem. Of special interest are so-called flaw leads, gashes many kilometres long that regularly open and close in the ice attached to coastlines...
