NU Online News Service, Jan. 27, 1:51 p.m.EST

Catlin Group Limited said its 2011 Arctic Survey will focus onchanging conditions in the Arctic Ocean that could alter currentsthat influence the prevailing climate of Europe and the East Coastof North America.

The Bermuda-based property and casualty insurer/ reinsurer saidthe survey will begin in March. A team of polar explorers andscientists will take part in a 10-week expedition and researchproject to examine the surface layers of the Arctic Ocean.

The Catlin Arctic Survey team, including specialist explorersand leading oceanographers from the United States, Canada and theUnited Kingdom, will study changes to sea temperature and increasedfresh water and ocean currents in the Arctic.

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

Scientists with the team measured the thickness of the floatingsea ice to provide data to scientists studying the impact of Arcticclimate change.

Current estimates as to how long ice will remain a year-roundfeature at the North Pole vary considerably, with scientificpredictions ranging from five to 100 years. More accurateinformation is essential if scientists and decision-makers are toanticipate fully the potential impact of the loss of the Arctic seaice on the world's population, Catlin said.

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

Catlin is sponsoring the survey for the third consecutiveyear.

The Arctic Ocean plays a vital role in driving ocean currentsglobally. According to Catlin, research scientists speculate thatwarming Arctic waters combined with increased levels of fresh waterfrom melting ice sheets, ice caps and glaciers could radicallyunbalance the processes sustaining the most significant of thesecurrents—known as “thermohaline circulation.”

These major currents carry heat and nutrients around the world’soceans, Catlin said. Any change to conditions influencing theseocean 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 andconduct research from the Catlin Ice Base, a research stationlocated on the sea ice at the edge of the Arctic Ocean inCanada.

• A team of Arctic explorers will undertake two separatemissions to gather additional data: across Prince Gustav Adolf Seaand from the North Geographic Pole toward Greenland. The explorerswill collect data from below the frozen ocean surface as part of aresearch project devised by Simon Boxall of the NationalOceanography Centre in Southampton, U.K., Catlin said.

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

“The Arctic is changing faster than IPCC models forecast; overthe last four years we have seen the surface area of Arctic icedecline 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 earlierthan expected—potentially precipitating changes to ocean currentssooner.”