New data from ‘the last ice area’ may help long-term conservation efforts in the Arctic

Earlier this year our international team of scientists from the Refuge Arctic consortium departed Iqaluit, Nvt. on a 56-day research expedition in the far north. We were sailing aboard the icebreaker CCGS Amundsen and our main objective was to study the high latitudes of the Arctic Ocean.

The higher latitudes of the Arctic play a key role in the global climate and are home to many unique ecosystems linked to sea ice. Our destination was the evocatively named “last ice area”, a region in far northern Canada and Greenland.

A political map of the Arctic with the minimum areas of permanent sea ice (as of 2012) demarcated. The last ice area covers an area roughly spanning northern coasts of Canada and Greenland. (U.S. State Department/U.S. Chairmanship of the Arctic Council)