"We can put a deal in place that the status quo goes on or we can put a deal in place that has teeth, that will allow us to designate areas in the high seas for fully protected marine reserves," says Sune Scheller, Greenpeace's expedition leader. COPENHAGEN (AFP) — The Arctic sea ice is melting faster than climate models had predicted, researchers at the University of Copenhagen warned on Tuesday. Researchers from the US and Germany made the shock finding while studying satellite images of northwestern Alaska. In the end it's the political will that needs to be there." But it may prove to be challenging, with some powerhouse nations, including Russia and the US, looking at short term economic gains at the expense of the planet's future.The US has not signed on to the Law of the Sea treaty, the UN guidelines on how countries use our oceans, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently hailed the economic opportunities presented by shrinking levels of sea ice opening up shipping lanes and a wealth of natural resources. Experts fear that greenhouse gases trapped in the ice are being released as it melts, adding to those pumped into the atmosphere by human activities.

"It's tragic to hear something like that and I think this is an extreme case of cherry picking because obviously you can find small individual good things about climate change but in the broad perspective the negative downside of this to us as humans, the environment, the ocean, will outweigh the small potential benefits substantially," says Scheller. Less sea ice means there will be less of that protective cold layer, leading to even more melting. Under the microscope the frozen clues within come to life -- a kaleidoscope of sea ice algae and phytoplankton, microscopic organisms that use sunlight for energy.Cape explains that these organisms play a vital role in reducing climate change by pulling planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it as a long-term "carbon sink. "It has definitely thinned in this area, it has thinned everywhere" says team leader, polar physicist Till Wagner, of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.Since 1990 the thickness of sea ice here has decreased by a third, from about 3 meters to 2 meters, according to the Fram Strait Arctic Observatory.The Fram Strait is where warm waters originating in Mexico are brought up by the Gulf Stream, flowing thousands of miles through the Atlantic to meet the Arctic ice edge. The absence of sea ice doesn't just threaten the top of the food chain, or the beluga whales we watch gently dipping along the ice edge, their deep breaths echoing across the silence of this remote region. By Umashankar Mishra. The scientists want to learn more about this threat beneath the ice, which could potentially destroy the cycle of life that starts here, and threaten the lives of people all over the planet. Until now, climate models have predicted a slow and steady increase of Arctic temperatures, but a new study shows that warming is occurring at a more rapid pace. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.Here, in the waters of the Fram Strait, between Svaalbard and Greenland, is where ice comes to die. In this warmer water, away from the ice, they found significantly less phytoplankton.Freshly melted ice not only injects life into the water -- it creates a layer of cold water that protects sea ice above from more melting.

Unlike previous climate models that forecast a slow and steady rise in Arctic temperatures, the new study shows the warming is occurring at a more rapid pace.