ESA Envisat press release shows north pole ice pack cracked from Svalbarð to the pole.
Finally large container ships will be able to take the short cut from Hong Kong to Rotterdam. Eh?
The NASA EOS Aqua satellite provided the complimentary data on this but have not seen an associated NASA press release.
"Mark Drinkwater of ESA's Oceans/Ice Unit said: "This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record low ice seasons. It is highly imaginable that a ship could have passed from Spitzbergen or Northern Siberia through what is normally pack ice to reach the North Pole without difficulty.
"If this anomaly trend continues, the North-East Passage or 'Northern Sea Route' between Europe and Asia will be open over longer intervals of time, and it is conceivable we might see attempts at sailing around the world directly across the summer Arctic Ocean within the next 10-20 years." "
There's a gap in the ice on the other side of the Arctic Ocean, too:
http://nsidc.org/news/press/2006_seaiceminimum/20060816_arcticseaicenew…
(scroll down to figure 3)