NASA's new and "ice" mission to the Arctic.

NASA has a mission planned for the Arctic; they have a mission to go to the Arctic ocean and embark on their first oceanographic research voyage down the frigid waters. NASA called this mission the Impacts of Climate on Ecosystems and Chemistry of the Arctic Pacific Environment mission, or ICESCAPE for short. Quoted by Paula Bontempi, an ocean biology and biogeochemistry program manager at NASA, "NASA researchers are preparing for the voyage and which will leave later this month." During this grueling mission, scientists will seek to unlock clues about the changing Arctic climate and the shifting ice conditions that affect the ocean ecosystems. NASA also plans to perform this voyage, which will take five weeks, on June 15th, departing from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy. Arctic sea ice is at its lowest point in thousands of years, as has been observed in satellite images. The ocean has warmed significantly over the past 16 years, particularly in the Arctic, causing great and widespread melting of sea ice. This, without a doubt, will affect the Arctic ecosystems. The ice melting and global warming, it only sounds like so many people heard it before but in different ways. I believe that if the ICESCAPE mission is a success, NASA scientists and other scientists, can study and predict the water level of the Arctic Circle and try to prevent any cause of overflow from the Arctic's melting ice caps, that will eventually flood over land.