Arctic heads for ice-free summer

The Arctic Ocean near the North Pole could be ice-free in the summer in around 10 years time, a top polar specialist has said.
Professor Peter Wadhams, who took part in a massive ice survey in the area, said for the first time it might be possible for ships to cross the area.
The team found floating ice that was around 1.8m thick, which means it's probably 'first year' ice.
That means it's more likely to melt again in the summer months.

The team brought their own equipment to dig into the ice but that quickly froze up so they had to do everything by hand. Where the ice had melted they had to swim.
Further investigation

Travelling to the North Pole and working in temperatures as cold as -70C is the only way scientists can really find out how the area has been affected by climate change.
If these ice sheets do melt it's not clear what the effects could be, so it looks like these results are the start of even more work in the Arctic.

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