LONDON, Oct 16: A British explorer who was the first man to reach the North Pole solo announced plans on Tuesday to lead an expedition to measure the thickness of the Arctic ice caps.

Pen Hadow, who reached the top of the world alone in 2003, will lead a three-person team including a woman scientist on the Vanco Arctic Survey mission, which could provide key evidence on global warming.

“The results of the Vanco Arctic Survey (VAS) will give the clearest prediction yet of precisely how long the Arctic ice cap will exist before it melts into the ocean,” he said in a statement.

The latest estimates for how long it will take for the Arctic ice caps to melt range from 16 to 100 years, said Hadow, who will be joined by fellow scientists Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley.

“This will be the first time that such a detailed survey of the ice thickness and snow load will be made from the surface over a full crossing of the Arctic Ocean,” said Joao Rodrigues of Cambridge University. The expedition will kick off at Point Barrow, Alaska, in mid-February.—AFP