Open sea: Ann Daniels during the Catlin Arctic Survey, which found that the Arctic Ocean will be almost entirely free from ice within a decadeDrilling and observation figures obtained during a 450km route across the northern part of the Beaufort Sea suggest the area is almost entirely made up of young, 'first-year' ice, whereas the region traditionally consists of older, thicker 'multi-year' ice.
Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics at Cambridge University, has spearheaded the team analysing the results.
He said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years.
'The summer ice cover in the Arctic will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years time. There won't be any sea ice there at all,' he said.
'In much less time than that, the ice in summer will be shrinking back to this last bastion north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island, so within a decade we will see a largely ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer.
'It won't be very long before we have to start thinking of the Arctic as an open sea. Man has taken the lid off the northern end of his planet and we can't put that lid back on again.
Peter Wadhams, Professor of Ocean Physics at Cambridge University, has spearheaded the team analysing the results.
He said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years.
'The summer ice cover in the Arctic will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years time. There won't be any sea ice there at all,' he said.
'In much less time than that, the ice in summer will be shrinking back to this last bastion north of Greenland and Ellesmere Island, so within a decade we will see a largely ice-free Arctic Ocean in summer.
'It won't be very long before we have to start thinking of the Arctic as an open sea. Man has taken the lid off the northern end of his planet and we can't put that lid back on again.
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