British explorer to measure depth of Arctic ice cap

LONDON: A British explorer who was the first man to reach the North Pole solo announced plans on Tuesday to lead an expedition to measure the thickness of the Arctic ice caps.
 
Pen Haow, who reached the top of the world alone in 2003, will lead a three-person team including a woman scientist on the Vanco Arctic Survey mission, hich could
provide key evidence on global warming.
 
"The reslts of the Vanco Arctic Survey (VAS) will give the clearest prediction yet of precisely how long the Arctic ice cap will exist before it melts into the ocean," he said in
a statement.
 
The latest estimates for how long it will take for the Arctic ice caps to melt range from 16 to 100 years, said Hadow, who will be joined by fellow scientists Ann Daniels and
Martin Hartley.
 
"This will be the first time that such a detailed survey of the ice thickness nd snow load will be made from the surface over a full crossing of the Arctic Ocean," said Joao
Rodrigues of Cambridge University.
 
The expedition will kick off at Point Barrow, Alaska, in mid-February and the group will cover 2,000-2,200 kilometre before they arrive at the geographic North Pole about 120 days later, in mid-June.
 
They hope to average about 18 kilometres a day, in temperatures that will dip as low as minus 50 degrees celsius while lugging 85 kilograms of scientific equipment.
 
Their supplies will be replenished about every two weeks, and their route also involves swimming for about 100 hours in water as cold as minus 1.8 degrees celsius.