North Pole Since 2002, the Russians have also annually established a base, Barneo, close to the Pole. This operates for a few weeks during early spring. Studies in the 2000s predicted that the North Pole may become seasonally ice-free because of Arctic ice shrinkage, with timescales varying from 2016 to the late 21st century or later. The sea depth at the North Pole has been measured at by the Russian Mir submersible in 2007 and at 4,087 m (13,410 ft) by USS "Nautilus" in 1958. The nearest land is usually said to be Kaffeklubben Island, off the northern coast of Greenland about
Barnes Ice Cap Barnes Ice Cap The Barnes Ice Cap is an ice cap located in central Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It covers close to in the area of the Baffin Mountains. It has been thinning due to regional warming. Between 2004 and 2006, the ice cap was thinning at a rate of per year. The ice cap contains Canada's oldest ice, some of it being over 20,000 years old. It is a remnant of the Laurentide ice sheet, which covered much of Canada during the last glacial period of the Earth's current ice age. Generator Lake is located at the southeastern end