Obama to give extra push to climate talks: U.N. official

"I think that will be a very constructive contribution to the process as we move forward," said de Boer, in Tokyo for a global meeting of transport ministers discussing climate change.
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The transport ministers' gathering in Tokyo aims to send a political message on how the transport sector, which accounts for more than 20 percent of mankind's carbon dioxide emissions, is tackling climate change and air pollution.

But ministers from China and Indonesia decided not to come, while it was unclear if India's minister would attend.

Pen Hadow arctic survey sponsored by Green Guardian

Green Guardian is to help sponsor a pioneering scientific expedition which, for the first time, will measure the thickness of the ice around the North Pole.

The Catlin Arctic Survey, led by veteran polar explorer Pen Hadow, departs for the Arctic next month at the start of a gruelling three-month, 750-mile trek to the Pole, dragging a high-tech sled carrying ice-penetrating radar.

The sea ice is melting rapidly, threatening not just polar bears but the whole the Arctic eco system and the ocean beneath which, until now, has largely been shielded from solar radiation by the reflective surface of the ice. No-one currently knows the thickness of the remaining ice. Data from this expedition will help shape decisions at the United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties in Copenhagen in November.

If no one knows the ice thickness, how can anyone claim to calculate the ice volume?