Press Releases

Catlin Announces Title Sponsorship of Major £3 Million Arctic Survey

HAMILTON, Bermuda – Catlin Group Limited (‘CGL’: London Stock Exchange), the international specialty property/casualty insurer and reinsurer, announced today that it is sponsoring a major scientific expedition to capture vitally needed data for scientists studying the impact of global warming on the Arctic ice cap.

The project –  to be known as the Catlin Arctic Survey – will be led by British explorer Pen Hadow. The extensive programme of scientific measurements will include some of the most accurate and detailed observations of the thickness of the permanent Arctic ice.  The measurements will be taken as part of a pioneering surface survey over a 1,200-mile
(2,000-kilometre) route from the Canadian coast to the North Geographic Pole, beginning in February 2009.

Hadow’s expedition has already secured support from UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) and WWF International (Worldwide Fund for Nature), as well as the Royal patronage of HRH The Prince of Wales.

Hadow explained: “Our scientific partners at NASA, the US Navy’s Department of Oceanography and the University of Cambridge want this data to assess more accurately the current state of the Arctic Ocean’s rapidly disappearing sea ice and to predict more precisely when it will no longer be a perennial surface feature of our planet.”

Announcing the sponsorship, Stephen Catlin, chief executive of Catlin Group Limited, said: “As a speciality insurance/reinsurance company, the potential effects of global warming will have a direct impact on our business. However, there are gaps in our knowledge and much of the evidence regarding the pace of global warming is not scientifically proven.  Catlin is a company that manages risk based on hard facts, so we believe that obtaining this information is vital. The Catlin Arctic Survey will help inform all those who must plan for the potential effects of global warming.”
 
Professor Wieslaw Maslowski, one of the world’s leading scientists in the study of Arctic sea ice based at the US Navy’s Department of Oceanography in Monterey, California, and a lead scientific partner of Catlin Arctic Survey, commented: “We’ll be integrating the survey’s actual observations with same-day weather data to obtain near real time model estimates of sea ice conditions on a daily basis.  In this way we can test the accuracy of our modelling of the ice’s thickness and re-assess our projections as to how long the surviving thicker ice is likely to last as a perennial feature”.

Because the Arctic is so vulnerable to changes in the Earth’s climate, it is a significant barometer, acting as an early warning for wider impacts across the globe such as temperature and the rise in sea levels.

The Arctic polar ice cap currently acts as a ‘reflective heat shield’, reflecting 80 per cent of incoming solar energy, but it is disappearing quickly.  The sea water below absorbs energy, resulting in thermal expansion and rising sea levels.  Sea levels rose between 10 and 20 centimetres during the 20th century, and a further increase of between 20 and 80 centimetres could lead to 300 million people being flooded each year.

The ice cap currently covers almost 3 per cent of the Earth’s surface. The permanent central region of the Arctic Ocean’s ice cover has receded at a rate of approximately 300,000 kilometres each year since 2001. This is equivalent to an area the size of the United Kingdom, Italy, or the Philippines and greater than the size of California. Scientists’ current projections for seasonal total meltdown range from 100 years to less than five years.

The disintegration also has significant global consequences for planning in political, economic and business terms.  Already there are political tensions over access to approximately 20 per cent of the world’s remaining untapped oil and natural gas below the Arctic Ocean and new commercial sea routes through the North-West Passage.

Besides Pen Hadow the Catlin Arctic Survey team includes one of the world’s foremost women polar explorers, Ann Daniels, and world-class polar photographer Martin Hartley. They will be pulling their sledges and even swimming between ice floes from late February to the end of May 2009. During their journey they will:

Explaining why the extreme physical challenge is necessary, Hadow explained that neither satellites nor submarines can differentiate between the ice and snow layers.  “I have teamed up with scientists because it is clear that only polar explorers can undertake such a detailed survey and provide actual measurements as opposed to the observed estimates from underwater or space by submarines and satellites.”
 
The Catlin Arctic Survey will be equipped with sophisticated communications systems transmitting data, video and audio progress reports and news to the widest global audience. These reports will be transmitted from the Arctic using technology specially developed by Hadow’s team.

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Notes to editors

 

1.   Detailed information regarding the Catlin Arctic Survey can be found at www.catlinarcticsurvey.com.
2.   A fact sheet providing additional information about the Catlin Arctic Survey follows.
3.   Catlin Group Limited, headquartered in Bermuda , is an international specialist property/casualty insurer and reinsurer writing more than 30 classes of business worldwide through four underwriting platforms and an international network of offices. Catlin shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: CGL). Gross premiums written during 2007 exceeded US$3.3 billion. More information about Catlin can be found at www.catlin.com.
4.  

 Catlin's four underwriting platforms are:

  • The Catlin Syndicate at Lloyd's of London (Syndicate 2003) is a recognised leader of numerous classes of specialty insurance and reinsurance. The Catlin Syndicate is the largest at Lloyd's in 2008 based on premium capacity of £1.25 billion.
  • Catlin Bermuda (Catlin Insurance Company Ltd.), which is a leading participant in the Bermuda market, underwriting a diversified portfolio of property treaty, casualty treaty, political risk and terrorism, and structured risk coverages.
  • Catlin UK (Catlin Insurance Company (UK) Ltd.), which specialises in underwriting commercial non-life insurance for UK clients through a network of regional offices. In addition, Catlin UK underwrites other classes of commercial business which are also written by the Catlin Syndicate.

  • Catlin US, which encompasses Catlin's operations based in the United States. Catlin US underwrites a wide variety of specialty property/casualty insurance and reinsurance products from more than 15 offices. Catlin US includes Catlin Insurance Company Inc. and Catlin Specialty Insurance Company Inc.

5.  

Catlin's international network of offices allows the Group to diversify further its risk portfolio and to work more closely with local policyholders and brokers. Besides its offices in the UK, US and Bermuda, Catlin operates offices in Canada, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Japan, Guernsey, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Austria



CATLIN ARCTIC SURVEY
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND KEY FACTS

What is the Catlin Arctic Survey?
The Catlin Arctic Survey combines a pioneering feat of human endurance with a scientific endeavour to measure the thickness and density of the North Pole ice cap, therefore determining, with a much greater degree of accuracy, when it could disappear.

Who will be conducting the Survey?
The Catlin Arctic Survey team consists of three experienced polar explorers – Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and photographer Martin Hartley – supported by scientists and operations experts.

How will the Catlin Arctic Survey be conducted?
The highly experienced team will be travelling, on foot, from mid-February 2009, hauling sledges from the edge of the permanent sea ice off the Canadian coast (Beaufort Sea) across 2,000 kilometres of disintegrating and shifting polar pack ice, to reach the Geographic North Pole in late May/early June. During the Survey, the team experience temperatures as low as -50C (with wind-chill -90ºC) in the early stages. The team will cover about 18 kilometres a day pulling sledges weighing 85 kilograms (13.5 stone). They will be swimming for about 100 hours during the journey in water as cold as -1.8ºC (28ºF)

Hazards include: polar bear attacks, thin ice, open water, ice ridges, rubble-fields, fog, blizzards and carbon monoxide poisoning from cooking inside a tent.  The team will be re-supplied by helicopter/fixed wing aircraft seven times (approximately every two weeks)

Why is it important to measure the thickness of the ice cap?
The North Pole ice cap is melting, but there is no factual data available as to when it will totally disappear. The ‘meltdown’ will be of global significance and estimates vary from as little as five years up to 100 years.  Without more accurate information, there is a danger that appropriate planning for this eventuality will not take place.

What will be the effects of a complete meltdown?
There would be a number of significant effects:

How will the ice thickness be measured?
A specially developed ground-penetrating radar will be dragged across the ice, taking detailed cross-profiles through the snow and ice layers approximately every 10 centimetres. A water column survey will also be undertaken using SIPPICAN expendable probes, as well as visual recording of more than 40 other features of the ice.

Why can these measurements not be achieved by other means (such as satellite surveillance)?
Satellite measurement can not accurately distinguish between snow and ice, and there is limited coverage of the polar region. Furthermore, as the majority of satellites are commercial in nature, they do not have the capability to carry out such an investigation.

Is there support from those with a recognised interest in environmental matters?
Very much so. The Catlin Arctic Survey has been fully endorsed by various leaders in this field, including: