The primary scientific aim is to ensure the data is accessible to, and used by, the scientific community in furthering global understanding of the ice cap’s status.

The scientific community is exceptionally supportive of the Catlin Arctic Survey, but Pen Hadow and his Survey colleagues cannot on their own deliver the enormous potential scientific value of this Survey data.

We will therefore be working closely with a range of scientific collaborators, who will facilitate a number of authoritative studies, while also providing top-line, live-time scientific interpretation for the media and public.

Professor Peter Wadhams , Britain’s leading expert on Arctic Ocean sea ice processes and status, combines extensive fieldwork experience with theoretical ocean physics. As our Lead UK Science Partner, he has offered his department’s practical support to build and co-ordinate the network of international collaborating scientific teams working with the Caltin Arctic Survey’s data.

Prof Wieslaw Maslowski leads one of the world’s foremost research groups focused on the past, current and future volumes of the North Pole ice cap. It will use supercomputers to test its models with the Catlin Arctic Survey data. It is also offering fortnightly top-line analysis of the data for the media, which is a hugely important contribution to the public’s engagement of the endeavour and its science.

Ron Kwok is senior science leader of NASA’s ICESat mission, whose satellite offers the northernmost available coverage of the ice. It has confirmed interest in using the data to assist its calibration of ICESat data and to inform their computer models of ice cap status.