Pen Hadow’s exploration team heads for Canada to help unravel the riddle of the Arctic’s melting sea ice.

Three polar explorers, Pen Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels will be leaving from Heathrow Airport, London, today (Wednesday 11th February 2009) to embark on a scientific survey of the Arctic Ocean’s floating sea ice.

Hadow’s endeavour  has HRH The Prince of Wales as its Patron and the support of WWF. The data they will capture is eagerly awaited by scientists studying various aspects of the Arctic and global warming.

The team will be flying to Canada where all their expedition kit and survey equipment will be assembled. They will spend around ten days in Resolute making sure they have everything needed to survive in the harsh conditions of the Arctic winter where temperatures can be as low as minus 50 degrees Celsius.

It is expected the Catlin Arctic Survey will start on February 27th when the Ice Team will be flown onto the ice some 500 miles off the coast of northern Canada. 

In what is an extreme physical challenge the Catlin Arctic Survey Ice Team will be trekking 1,000 kilometres to the North Geographic Pole measuring the thickness of the ice and collecting other scientific data to help scientists understand more about what is going on.  The evidence appears to be stacking up that the Arctic Ocean floating sea ice is melting rapidly and according to one projection may even vanish as early as 2013, leaving the top of the world without a permanent expanse of snow and ice for the first time during summer months.

The consequences include the warming of the Arctic Ocean as it absorbs energy from the sun which has previously been reflected back into space by the vast expanse of ice and snow, the opening of sea routes for shipping through the North West and North-East Passages and huge changes to the eco-system, including the habitat of its most iconic creature the polar bear.