Arctic sea ice melting at an alarming rate, satellites show

Every year, the Arctic loses sea ice that could almost cover Lake Superior, say scientists studying the area's ecosystem.

Prof. David Barber, a sea ice specialist from the University of Manitoba, said satellite images are showing that sea ice cover in the Arctic is now melting at a rate of 74,000 square kilometres a year. The water surface area of Lake Superior is 82,100 square kilometres.

Barber is among 120 scientists from nearly a dozen nations who are attending a meeting of the Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study in Winnipeg this week. The group, which conducted research over the past three years in the Arctic, is releasing its findings, including studies from a year spent on board the Amundsen research icebreaker.

• CBC PHOTOGALLERY: On board the Amundsen

Barber said he's most concerned about how the loss of ice can impact the habitat of species such as ring seals. The melting is happening too fast for them to adapt, he said.

"So the ecosystems that have evolved to take advantage of that sea ice, you can imagine how do they adapt to such a change. It has happened so rapidly, how do they adapt to such a thing?" he said.

Scientists at the meeting are worried the situation could worsen in 2006 because less ice makes it easier to melt the remaining cover.

"Soon as you have less ice growth, you have more open water," said Simon Prinsenberg of the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Halifax. "Open [water] means the ocean is nice and black, and the radiation of the sun can go into the ocean, heat the ocean and you get more ice melt."

Researchers estimate that in as little as 15 years, the Arctic could be ice free in the summer. They said the last time that happened was more than a million years ago.

But Prinsenberg said less ice could be positive for northern economies.

"A lot of people think that with less ice we might see more fisheries up there and since there's less ice it's also easier to get up there," he said.

Louis Fortier, a professor at Laval University in Quebec City, also said as ice cover shrinks in the Arctic, other species adapting to warmer conditions could move into the region.