"ron button" wrote in message
...

Looking at those pictures showing the difference between 1979 and today
seems to show that most of the ice melt is occuring on the
Russian/American side of the pole whereas it looks virtually unchanged on
the European side , am I wrong ?

There have been bigger changes on the Bering Sea side of the Arctic, but the
ice has also retreated from Svalbard. However, it is a bit misleading
because the ice is moving from the Pacific into the Atlantic. See this map
of the way the buoys have moved since April:
http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northp...tTrackMap.html
Moreover the North Pole is not in the centre of the Arctic Ocean, being much
closer to Svalbard than to the Bering Strait.

Cheers, Alastair.