Big decline in depth of Arctic winter sea iceThe thickness of sea ice in the Arctic dramatically declined last winter for the first time since records began in the early 1990s. The research by British scientists shows a significant loss in the thickness of the northern ice cap after the record loss of ice in the summer of 2007, although the weather was not abnormally warm. The findings, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters Geophysical Research Letters is a publication of the American Geophysical Union. GRL is the organization's only letters journal. Since its introduction in 1974, GRL has published only short research letters, typically 3-5 pages long, which focus on a specific discipline or , raise the possibility that the loss of the Arctic sea ice could accelerate, because as the ice recedes the water temperature rises. This summer the sea ice recorded its second-lowest extent after the record low of 2007, again despite relatively cool air temperatures. However, Katharine Giles of the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at University College London “UCL” redirects here. For other uses, see UCL (disambiguation). University College London, commonly known as UCL, is the oldest multi-faculty constituent college of the University of London, one of the two original founding colleges, and the first British , who led the study, said it was too soon to say whether the downward trend would continue and lead to summer sea ice disappearing even faster than forecast. "It's dangerous to extrapolate extrapolate - extrapolation out because colder weather would mean the ice could recover again," said Giles. "This data will help climate modellers A climate modeller is a person who designs, develops, implements, tests, maintains or exploits climate models. These models, in turn, are used to understand the climate of the Earth (sometimes of other planets), to help analyse or interpret past and current measurements and to validate their models and make them more accurate." The study, part-funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community , found the thickness of sea ice in the Arctic was almost unchanged in the five winters from 2002-6, but then declined 10%, or 26cm, last winter. In parts of the western Arctic Western Arctic is a federal electoral district and senate division in Northwest Territories, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1979. , where the greatest loss was recorded the previous summer, the loss was nearly double the average. But Vicky Pope Vicky Pope is head of the climate predictions programme at the Hadley Centre. She spent 6 years as manager of atmospheric climate model development and evaluation. For the last 2½ years she has been a programme manager. , the Met Office's leading adviser to the government on climate change, warned: "There's clearly a decline over the last 30 years and we can detect a human signal in that, but the change in the last couple of years could be due to natural fluctuations in the weather." Other causes of sea ice changes could include ocean currents and wind piling up ice, making it important to measure both thickness and extent to calculate total volume, said Giles. 
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