Press Releases

Catlin Arctic Survey Team Begins Journey to North Pole to Assess Climate Change Impact

2 March 2009

A team of three British explorers has commenced a vital scientific expedition to the North Geographic Pole whose aim is to help establish how long the sea ice floating in the Arctic Ocean will remain a permanent feature of the planet.

The Catlin Arctic Survey Ice Team arrived at a point on the permanent floating Arctic Sea ice (81.5 degrees North,130 degrees West) at approximately 11.30pm GMT on Saturday.  The team was dropped by Twin Otter aircraft some 1,075 kilometres from northern Canada after a 7½-hour flight. 

Catlin Group Limited (‘CGL’; London Stock Exchange), the international specialty property/casualty insurer and reinsurer, is the title sponsor of the Catlin Arctic Survey.

Stephen Catlin, Chief Executive of Catlin Group Limited, said: 

“I would like to congratulate the entire Catlin Arctic Survey team – both the polar explorers and their back-up staff – on the successful start of the expedition.  We wish them the best of luck on their journey.

“It has taken many months of detailed planning to get to this point.  I am looking forward to following the expedition, both in terms of the human adventure involved as well as the important scientific findings that we believe the survey will produce regarding the impact of climate change on the Arctic environment.”

During the 90-day expedition, the Ice Team – Pen Hadow,  Ann Daniels and photographer Martin Hartley – will be assessing the state of the ice by taking a series of survey measurements to help scientists get a clearer understanding of the future of the Arctic Ocean’s floating ice.  The ice is known to have been shrinking rapidly in size, but there are fears that it is also thinning.

Armed with pioneering ice-penetrating radar and highly sophisticated communications equipment, the team will take millions of measurements of the thickness of the remaining ice during their three-month journey, assessing its density and the depth of the overlying snow, as well as taking weather and sea temperature readings.  The data will be transmitted to the survey’s operational headquarters in real time.

Following their arrival on the ice in the late afternoon local time on Saturday, the three explorers travelled about three kilometres and then pitched camp.  They spent the first full day of the expedition taking an initial set of ice thickness readings and water column measurements and making checks of the high-tech equipment in their sledges.  Daytime temperatures are currently
-40ºC (-40Fº).

Hadow, who in 2003 became the first person to trek solo and unsupported without any re-supplies from northern Canada to the North Pole, said he believed this mission is fundamentally different from past adventure-oriented expeditions in which he has participated: 

“I think this time does feel different. We’re only doing this because there is such an urgent need for more data about the permanent floating sea ice.  If, as scientists tell us, the ice is thinning quickly, then it should set alarm bells ringing around the world.  Assuming we can get the job done, then it’ll be up to the experts to interpret it. 

“Personally I’d say the loss of such a magnificent, but precarious, feature on the surface of the planet would be a tragedy.”

The Catlin Arctic Survey’s science partners include the US Navy Postgraduate Naval School in Monterey, California, where Professor Wieslaw Maslowski will be using the data collected by the explorers to support his modelling of the Arctic Ocean sea ice.  His current model projections suggest that the Arctic Ocean may be ice-free in summer as early as 2013.The findings will be taken to the national negotiating teams working to replace the Kyoto Protocol agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties in Copenhagen in December 2009.

During the trek the three explorers face the hazards of polar bear attacks, steep ice ridges and a constant danger of falling through the thinnest ice. Each of them is hauling a sledge weighing up to 120 kilos.  They will ski most of the way, but face swimming for up to 150 hours between floes where the ice has broken up or is too thin.
 
The Ice Team will be re-supplied every 20-25 days on their mission and will be using state-of-the-art satellite communications to send photos, video and data directly from the ice.  The team’s  progress can be followed during the expedition on www.catlinarcticsurvey.com.  The explorers aim to reach the North Geographic Pole in late May or early June.

- ends -

For more information contact:

Media Relations:    
James Burcke,
Head of Communications, London		 Tel:
Mobile :
E-mail:		 +44 (0)20 7458 5710
+44 (0)7958 767 738
james.burcke@catlin.com
     
Liz Morley, Maitland

Tel:
E-mail:

 +44 (0)20 7379 5151
emorley@maitland.co.uk
   
Investor Relations:
William Spurgin,
Head of Investor Relations, London

Tel:
Mobile :
E-mail:

 +44 (0)20 7458 5726
+44 (0)7710 314 365
william.spurgin@catlin.com

Notes to editors

1.   Catlin Group Limited, headquartered in Bermuda , is an international specialist property/casualty insurer and reinsurer writing more than 30 classes of business worldwide through four underwriting platforms and an international network of offices. Catlin shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: CGL). Gross premiums written during 2007 exceeded US$3.3 billion. More information about Catlin can be found at www.catlin.com.
2.  

 Catlin's four underwriting platforms are:

  • The Catlin Syndicate at Lloyd's of London (Syndicate 2003) is a recognised leader of numerous classes of specialty insurance and reinsurance. The Catlin Syndicate is the largest at Lloyd's in 2008 based on premium capacity of £1.25 billion.
  • Catlin Bermuda (Catlin Insurance Company Ltd.), which is a leading participant in the Bermuda market, underwriting a diversified portfolio of property treaty, casualty treaty, political risk and terrorism, and structured risk coverages.
  • Catlin UK (Catlin Insurance Company (UK) Ltd.), which specialises in underwriting commercial non-life insurance for UK clients through a network of regional offices. In addition, Catlin UK underwrites other classes of commercial business which are also written by the Catlin Syndicate.

  • Catlin US, which encompasses Catlin's operations based in the United States. Catlin US underwrites a wide variety of specialty property/casualty insurance and reinsurance products from more than 15 offices. Catlin US includes Catlin Insurance Company Inc. and Catlin Specialty Insurance Company Inc.

3.  

Catlin's international network of offices allows the Group to diversify further its risk portfolio and to work more closely with local policyholders and brokers. Besides its offices in the UK, US and Bermuda, Catlin operates offices in Canada, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Guernsey, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria.

 4.   Catlin Group Limited is the title sponsor of the Catlin Arctic Survey, a major scientific expedition to measure the thickness and density of the permanent ice surrounding the North Pole.  The project’s aim is to determine, with a much greater degree of accuracy, when this ice could disappear as a result of global warming. The Survey, during which three Arctic explorers will trek on foot 1,300 kilometres to the North Pole, will begin in late February 2009.  More information is available at www.catlinarcticsurvey.com.