Climate Central: Figuring out the future of the rapidly warming Arctic is crucial for climate scientists, largely because changes in the region's ice -- both on land and at sea -- can have major consequences for the rest of the planet. Sea ice declined to a record low in September 2012, and scientists have projected that the region will become seasonally ice-free by mid-century, based on satellite data, observational evidence, and other information.
But researchers have only recently had the ability to keep close...