Explorer highlights melting Arctic ice cap

Yahoo News 5 Sep 08;

British explorer Lewis Gordon Pugh declared Friday he had kayaked further to the top of the world than anyone else ever has, as his bid to reach the North Pole failed -- much to his delight.

But the renowned extreme swimmer, dubbed the human polar bear, nonetheless warned the Arctic ice pack was thinning and urged world leaders to take immediate action to halt it.

Pugh, 38, made it to 81 degrees north latitude before hitting solid pack ice. He temporarily planted the flags of 192 nations and territories into a floe in a bid for worldwide attention to the issue of climate change.

"Last year at this latitude I saw three-metre-thick ice. Now I can only see one-metre-thick ice," he said.

"In 2007 I predicted the Arctic would be largely free of summer sea ice within 10 years. Everything I have seen on my expedition confirms that prediction."

"The disappearance of this sea ice is happening considerably faster than scientific models predicted a year ago," he added.

"I am deeply concerned that policy makers are using the wrong information to inform their policy decisions. Unless world leaders appreciate the speed of change, any measures that they take will be wholly inadequate."

Before departing from Norway's Svalbard islands, Pugh told AFP that "failure would equal success" -- as that would mean the polar ice pack would still be intact.

Pugh left the Svalbard archipelago on Sunday and made it 135 kilometres of the 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) to the pole, kayaking up cracks in the ice in freezing winds, horizontal snow showers, strong sea currents and with the constant threat of polar bears and walruses.

Some scientists predicted that due to global warming, this year might be the first when someone could kayak to the North Pole.

The Arctic ice pack keeps melting under the effects of global warming and in August saw its second largest summer shrinkage since satellite observations began 30 years ago, US scientists said last week.

Environmental campaigners warn a melting Arctic polar ice pack could cause rising sea levels that would threaten some low-lying island nations and endanger low-lying coastal areas.

Last year Pugh swam one kilometre in an open patch of sea at the North Pole last year to highlight the Arctic's fragile state.

He is also the first person to complete long distance swims in every ocean, swim the length of the River Thames that flows through London, and the waters between the Maldive Islands.