Last May, Catlin completed a study aimed at helping researchers determine how long the Arctic Ocean's sea ice cover will remain a permanent feature of the Earth.

Scientists with the team measured the thickness of the floating sea ice to provide data to scientists studying the impact of Arctic climate change.

Current estimates as to how long ice will remain a year-round feature at the North Pole vary considerably, with scientific predictions ranging from five to 100 years. More accurate information is essential if scientists and decision-makers are to anticipate fully the potential impact of the loss of the Arctic sea ice on the world's population, Catlin said.

Catlin’s 2011 Arctic Survey will build on research begun in 2009 and 2010 into the thickness of sea ice and ocean acidification, Catlin said.

Catlin is sponsoring the survey for the third consecutive year.

The Arctic Ocean plays a vital role in driving ocean currents globally. According to Catlin, research scientists speculate that warming Arctic waters combined with increased levels of fresh water from melting ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers could radically unbalance the processes sustaining the most significant of these currents—known as “thermohaline circulation.”

These major currents carry heat and nutrients around the world’s oceans, Catlin said. Any change to conditions influencing these ocean currents could have impacts far away from the Arctic.

The 2011 Catlin Arctic Survey consists of two initiatives:

• An international team of scientists will gather data and conduct research from the Catlin Ice Base, a research station located on the sea ice at the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Canada.

• A team of Arctic explorers will undertake two separate missions to gather additional data: across Prince Gustav Adolf Sea and from the North Geographic Pole toward Greenland. The explorers will collect data from below the frozen ocean surface as part of a research project devised by Simon Boxall of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, U.K., Catlin said.

Mr. Boxall noted an immediate need for a better understanding of this little-researched process to inform out-of-date climate models.

“The Arctic is changing faster than IPCC models forecast; over the last four years we have seen the surface area of Arctic ice decline to levels predicted for 2070,” he said.

He explained, “If the ice continues to melt at its present rate, predictions made as recently as 2003 could happen 60 years earlier than expected—potentially precipitating changes to ocean currents sooner.”