Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Three British explorers are testing radar that measures ice thickness and communications equipment ahead of a 100-day scientific mission to the North Pole, where they aim to collect the biggest set of sea-ice data ever recorded.
During their polar quest, the adventurers will carry out 50 types of measurements to help scientists understand the effect global warming is having on Arctic sea ice, expedition leader Pen Hadow said in a telephone interview from Broughton Island in the Canadian Arctic. He, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley set off today on a five-day training expedition to test equipment and work out technical routines they’ll need in the longer trek, he said.
“All the technology has been tested but now we have to get experience and get comfortable with using it in a polar environment in an efficient way,” Hadow, who in 2003 became the first person to trek solo and unassisted to the North Pole, said late yesterday. “That way we’ll use it to its best advantage on the main expedition. This is a very high-tech polar expedition.”
Arctic sea ice melted to its lowest extent ever in 2007, and the frozen north is viewed by scientists as a harbinger of global warming, with researchers including Walt Meier at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, forecasting ice-free summers at the North Pole as early as 2030. Sea-ice data comes mainly from satellites, and Hadow said his team’s findings, including about 1 million measurements of ice thickness from a specially-designed radar, will help calibrate them because they can be compared with satellite readings taken at the same time. “The data will be a unique set which will enable past and future measurements by satellite and submarines to be made more accurate,” Hadow said.
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