Two American explorers, Lonnie Dupre and Eric Larsen, are preparing for a four-month journey to the Arctic this summer, starting next month.
They plan to gather information about the habits of polar bears, a species they believe is among the first victims of global warming.
The explorers will trek nearly 1,800 kilometers and paddle out into the Arctic Ocean to measure the thickness and density of the ice during the summer as part of a project sponsored by Greenpeace.
According to some scientific predictions, the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free during summer within the next 100 years. Polar bears cannot survive without ice.
The U.S. government is considering an endangered species act to protect these bears.
Explorers Dupre and Larsen planned to undertake this journey last year but had to postpone it due to unusually heavy snowfall.
This year, on May 1, they will embark on this expedition, dubbed the Thin Ice Project 2006 – Protecting the Polar Bear. The journey will begin in Canada, loop around the Arctic, and eventually return to Greenland.
According to research experts, polar bears will experience weight loss as their hunting grounds melt away, making it more difficult for them to catch seals.
Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council report that the current polar bear population is only about 950, a 14% decline over the past decade.
Trần Nam
