As we left Greenland waters, and flew over the Arctic Ocean towards Iceland, we had a good view of the sea ice. I estimated that this ‘island’ of ice was about half the size of the island of Singapore. In 2007 the floating sea ice in the Arctic Ocean shrank to a level never previously recorded – undoubtedly a consequence of global warming. Scientists have estimated that if the Arctic sea ice keeps retreating at its current rate, the summer sea ice may disappear completely within 10 years.