The Arctic Ocean could be free of ice in the summer as soon as 2010 or 2015 – something that hasn’t happened for more than a million years, according to a leading polar researcher.

Louis Fortier, scientific director of ArcticNet, a Canadian research network, said the sea ice is melting faster than predicted by models created by international teams of scientists, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Over the past week, the ice has compacted some and rotated clockwise. Red is where the ice edge used to be used to be, green is where it is now.

Temperatures are very cold over most of the Arctic and lots of new ice is forming.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?