ice coverage near the north pole based on satellite observations nasa says the arctic ice cap is declining at an average rate of about thirteen percent per decade our next report takes us to the norwegian archipelago of a small bard in the arctic circle scientists there are researching just what is causing the ice to retreat. the small part archipelago is covered with ice snow and glaciers as far as the eye can see at first glance there's no obvious sign of the drastic climatic changes taking place here. but the arctic is warming two to three times faster than the rest of the earth. the appropriately named ice fjord or ice fjord west of the island of spitsbergen no longer freezes over now fishermen catch salmon and mackerel here in the winter in the past they can only do that further south kim hole maine of the norwegian polar