Data shows that arctic ice has been shrinking since 1979, and the chances of reversing the trend look poor.

Inuit hunters are falling through thinning ice and dying. Dolphins are being spotted for the first time. There’s not enough snow to build igloos for shelter during hunts.

Scientists report that ponds in the Canadian Arctic are drying out due to Climate Change and this in turn, may exacerbate the release of even more greenhouse gases.

“The small, shallow ponds on Ellesmere Island, high in Canada’s Eastern Arctic, are drying up and could begin to release greenhouse gases that make the problem worse, says John Smol, a biologist at Queen’s University in Kingston.”

The issue of Arctic sovereignty is “heating up” as global warming allows for more access to the North.

In Harper’s 2006 campaign, he promised “three heavy troop-carrying icebreakers, remote sensing to locate foreign vessels, an army training centre up north, a deepwater port at Iqaluit, more air patrols plus unmanned drone aircraft, and expansion of the aboriginal militia known as the Arctic Rangers.” However, his government has now backed away from this earlier plan, and some would like an explanation.

“Is the United States better served by having Canada lay claim to the Northwest Passage waterway across the top of the world? Or should the passage be considered international waters, open to everyone and owned by no one? In former U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci’s view, there’s no contest. After 9/11, anarchy is not an option.”

This issue becomes more important with global warming thinning out ice cover and making the waterway more navigable.

Researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say that sea ice loss in the Arctic is likely to surpass 40% according to computer models. This can have a profound effect on marine mammals.

At Zeppelin Mountain, a remote mountain in the European Arctic, pollution can be detected from factories in Russia, pesticides in Israel and coal-fired power plants in China.

This year witnessed the lowest Arctic sea ice level since satellite assessments began in the 1970s.

North Pole explorations may be hindered in the future because of global warming. Leading polar adventurers said that in a decade or two, summer trips over ice to the Pole may not be possible.

“In what some scientists see as another alarming consequence of global warming, thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle were killed in stampedes earlier this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them to crowd onto the shoreline in extraordinary numbers.”