The programme is sponsored by the International Polar Year, the largest global research effort of its kind, involving thousands of scientists from more than 60 countries and 220 research and outreach projects.

"There's been an incredible decrease in ice volume, and if the rate of decline continues, we're going to have a seasonally ice-free Arctic in 30 to 50 years," said Tim Papakyriakou, a lead researcher at the University of Manitoba.

Scientists believe that global warming could open up the Northwest Passage along Canada's northern coast to year-round shipping by 2050, reducing a sea trip from London to Tokyo by more than 5,000 kilometres (3,000 miles), and allowing Arctic resource exploitation.

By peering into cracks in the ice to the ocean floor, scientists hope to get "a first look at what we'd expect the situation to be like then," Papakyriakou told AFP.

The so-called flaw leads develop between the permanent polar ice cap and coastal ice.

More than 200 researchers from 14 countries will embark on this first roving year-round exploration of the Arctic aboard a retrofitted Canadian ice-breaker, focusing on the western fringe of the Arctic Islands.

Researchers will probe the depths of the Arctic Ocean and spy on its fragile ecosystem, hoping to discover new species and measure how they adapt to changing sea temperatures.

Aboard their floating laboratory, the scientists will analyse water columns and atmospheric changes, and map the ocean bottom to better understand the possible impact of future development in this frigid environment, Papakyriakou said.

Since 1978, the extent of Arctic sea ice has been shrinking by 2.7 percent on average each decade, with the summer ice declining by about 7.4 percent, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).