Sunday, September 23, 2007

Polar explorer sounds alarm


Norwegian polar explorer Ousland is just back from an expedition that's left him convinced that drastic measures are needed to halt the rate at which polar ice is melting.
Ousland, who trekked from the North Pole to Franz Josefs Land in the footsteps of legendary explorer Fridtjof Nansen, said he noticed major changes in the landscape since the first time he went to the North Pole in 1990.
"The ice was around three meters thick 17 years ago," Ousland said "This time, we measured the ice every day and we didn't find any ice that was thicker than two meters."
Ousland said he and his team also witnessed polar bears trapped on Kapp Flora. The polar bears didn't have enough strength to swim the distance needed to reach the nearest firm ice, he said.

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