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With sea ice melting at incredible speeds, a British team are making their way to the Arctic to find out just how bad things are.

During their 1,000 kilometre journey they plan to measure the thickness of the ice and look at not only how global warming is melting the ice from above but also how the increased temperature of sea water is melting it from below. It is this dual impact that is worrying scientists and environmentalists as they try to predict how it will effect our lives and how soon. And it is looking likely to be much sooner than originally anticipated

In the Northern Hemisphere, Greenland and Alaska are also losing ice at a rapid rate and in the Southern Hemisphere the Antarctic global warming is causing ice to melt far more rapidly than expected.It won't be many months before there is no summer ice at all in these outer reaches of our globe.

This is going to have a serious impact on rising sea levels around the world so, anyone living by the coast start moving now, by 2030 you could be under water. But for the rest of us how will we be affected?

Oddly, the longer term effect of this, after the ice has dissolved, will actually be a shortage of fast moving water. Large areas of the planet rely on the power of water to produce electricity. When their supply of prompt moving water reduces and eventually evaporates, they will have to find alternative sources to create their power.

Here in the UK many of us rely on heating oil and are continually baffled by the constant fluctuation in prices. Will global warming reduce the demand for heating our homes resulting in cheaper oil for us all? Or will the demand be increased by areas of the world as their need for oil to replace hydro electric power grows and thereby sees Heating oil prices increase worldwide.

Tags: arctic, heating, ice, oil

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