AGL 39.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.05%)
AIRLINK 131.22 Increased By ▲ 2.16 (1.67%)
BOP 6.81 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.89%)
CNERGY 4.71 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (4.9%)
DCL 8.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.29%)
DFML 41.47 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (1.59%)
DGKC 82.09 Increased By ▲ 1.13 (1.4%)
FCCL 33.10 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (1.01%)
FFBL 72.87 Decreased By ▼ -1.56 (-2.1%)
FFL 12.26 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (4.43%)
HUBC 110.74 Increased By ▲ 1.16 (1.06%)
HUMNL 14.51 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (5.53%)
KEL 5.19 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-2.26%)
KOSM 7.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.42%)
MLCF 38.90 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.78%)
NBP 64.01 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.79%)
OGDC 192.82 Decreased By ▼ -1.87 (-0.96%)
PAEL 25.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.12%)
PIBTL 7.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.68%)
PPL 154.07 Decreased By ▼ -1.38 (-0.89%)
PRL 25.83 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.16%)
PTC 17.81 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (1.77%)
SEARL 82.30 Increased By ▲ 3.65 (4.64%)
TELE 7.76 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.27%)
TOMCL 33.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.8%)
TPLP 8.49 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.07%)
TREET 16.62 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (2.15%)
TRG 57.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.41%)
UNITY 27.51 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.07%)
WTL 1.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.44%)
BR100 10,504 No Change 0 (0%)
BR30 31,226 No Change 0 (0%)
KSE100 98,080 No Change 0 (0%)
KSE30 30,559 No Change 0 (0%)

A British explorer who was the first man to reach the North Pole solo announced plans on October 16 to lead an expedition to measure the thickness of the Arctic ice caps.
Pen Hadow, 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, which could provide key evidence on global warming.
"The results 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 and 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 kilometres (1,250-1,370 miles) 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 (minus 58 degrees fahrheit), while lugging 85 kilograms (187 pounds) 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.
An ice penetrating radar will make survey measurements every 20 centimetres, while ice cores will be drilled through the ice every 20 kilometres to measure its density.
The Arctic ice cap covers just three percent of the total surface of the Earth, but reflects 80 percent of the solar energy that penetrates the planet's atmosphere.
According to a statement announcing the expedition, eight percent of the Arctic's surface is believed to be melting each year, causing sea levels last century to rise between 10 and 20 centimetres. "A further increase of between 20 centimetres and 80 centimetres could lead to 300 million people being flooded each year," it said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007

Comments

Comments are closed.