Also by ben

According to a new paper in Nature, sea ice in the Arctic is now declining at a pace and scale not seen for over a thousand years. It estimates that after decades of decline, the amount of ice locked away in the High North is now 2 million km² smaller than it was at the end of the 20^th Century and that ice-free summers at the Pole are likely sooner rather than later.

This month sees the Arctic sea ice minimum, a litmus test for the health of the global climate, with indications suggesting the extent in 2011 could be the lowest level ever.

Today Cairn Energy published the latest operational update for its risky oil drilling off Greenland and the news, at least for the wildcat oil company, was far from good.

For the second year in succession Cairn, has announced it has found no oil in the Arctic.

Medieval geographers referred to very distant places as Ultima Thule, beyond the "borders of the known world", but even before that, as far back the classical period, authors like Strabo and Pliny talked of a mysterious, semi-legendary place, found at the end of the world, called Thule.