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Science 19 January 2001:
Vol. 291. no. 5503, pp. 424 - 425
DOI: 10.1126/science.291.5503.424
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News Focus

ECOLOGY:
Arctic Life, on Thin Ice

Kevin Krajick

Field observations from the Beaufort Sea to Hudson Bay are suggesting that the food web in the Arctic Ocean is ailing, causing many species to flounder as a result of the warming environment. Sea ice in the Arctic, on which arctic animals hunt, rest, and reproduce, now covers 15% less area than it did in 1978; it has thinned to an average of 1.8 meters, compared to 3.1 meters in the 1950s. If this trend continues, in 50 years the sea ice could disappear entirely during summers--possibly wiping out ice algae and most other organisms farther up the food chain.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)