Last week the ice at the North Pole melted at an “unprecedented rate.” And that has some scientists worrying that the Arctic could become ice-free during the summers as early as 2013, the Guardian reports.

The storms over the Alaska’s Beaufort Sea last week brought with them not just bad weather but also streams of hot air into the Arctic. Satellite images that were taken shortly after could show that the ice caps had started to “disintegrate dramatically.” And because of that the scientists believes that the melting could exceed last year’s record loss of ice.

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Iceland has killed two polar bears since the U.S. Department of Interior formally listed the polar bear as a “threatened” species a few weeks ago.

The first polar bear, named Björn Björnesson, came to Iceland in the beginning of June this year. The polar bear was shot as soon as he was spotted for fears he would get into the nearest village. According to the hunters, killing the polar bear was the only solution as it would take to long to get the anaesthetic that was on the other side of the island.

The polar bear had probably travelled the 29 miles (47 kilometres) from Greenland on a flake of ice and swim the last miles to Iceland.

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Today the U.S. Department of Interior formally listed the polar bear as a “threatened” species.

Environmental organisations have called for the polar bears to be listed on the “endangered” species list hoping it could lead to actions to combat climate change.

Unfortunately interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne wouldn’t want to label the polar bears as “endangered” but rather as a “threatened” species. That means they’ve successfully downplayed the threat to polar bears from climate change and won’t need to take any serious actions to protect the polar bears from the constantly increasing levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

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