Understanding Sea Ice: Ocean Networks Canada Coordinates POLAR Safe Passage Project.

Imagine an area of the size of Ontario ‒ gone. That’s roughly the amount of Arctic sea-ice that has melted in the last 30 years: over 1 million square km. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: some climate change forecasts are predicting an ice-free summer Arctic Ocean by as early as 2030.

Understanding sea-ice change is critical to life in the high north, particularly when it comes to getting around. Local transportation and commercial shipping are defined by the Arctic’s shifting seasonal extremes, which is becoming harder to predict. Not only is the thickness and extent of the frozen ocean shrinking, but the dates of freeze-up, break-up and the duration of solid...