(October 15, 2009)--The North Pole will be an open sea during the summer within a decade, according to data released on Wednesday by a team of explorers that spent three months trekking through the Arctic.

The Catlin Arctic Survey team measured the thickness of the ice as it sledged and hiked through the northern part of the Beaufort Sea in the north Pole earlier this year during a research project.

Their findings show that most of the ice in the region is first-year ice that is only about six feet deep and will melt next summer.

The region has traditionally contained, thicker multi-year ice, which does not melt as rapidly.

Professor Peter Wadhams, part of the Polar Ocean Physics Group at the University of Cambridge, which analyzed the data, said the data support the new consensus that the Arctic will be ice-free in the summer within 20 years, and almost ice free within a decade.