The Arctic Ocean is dominated, both climatologically and ecologically, by the vast polar ice pack. The white surface of the pack ice efficiently reflects sunlight away from the Earth and so cools off the entire planet. Many of the unique animals of the Arctic, including polar bears, Arctic fox, walruses, seals, and many species of fish and birds have evolved to take advantage

Maps illustrating current pack ice (thicker than 0.5 meters) extent and extent under a carbon dioxide doubling scenario. Light blue shows spring maximum pack ice, white shows autumn minimum pack.

of the special characteristics of the pack ice and the larger ring of thinner sea ice that surrounds it.

The Inuit peoples have adapted remarkably well to an environment which makes it possible to hunt, fish and travel for weeks and months at a time over ice just a few meters above the ocean surface.

Studies by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Centre in Norway have shown that the total area of the Arctic Ocean covered by sea ice has declined 5.5 percent since 1978.

In a speech prepared for a meeting of the signatories to the Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1996, Rosemarie Kuptana, from the Beaufort Sea community of Sachs Harbour and then president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, noted:

"Climate change has not gone unnoticed at the community level in the Arctic. Today, our hunters are noticing changes in our homeland -- such as discolourations and thinning of sea ice, changes in the leads and open water areas, and the presence of animals not previously found in our region … Highly experienced and knowledgeable hunters have had experiences falling through areas of sea ice they have previously known to be safe."

These changes in sea ice were dramatically illustrated in the spring of 1997 when more than 100 experienced Inuit whalers had to be rescued after they were stranded on a large section of shorefast ice which broke off into the Chukchi Sea.