MOSCOW, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- Russian naval vessels have been ordered to join the search for the Arctic Sea, a ship carrying a load of timber to Algeria that never made port.

LONDON, Aug. 12 (UPI) -- A search is under way for a cargo ship that may have traveled through the English Channel after being hijacked by pirates in the Baltic Sea, officials say.

PASADENA, Calif., July 7 (UPI) -- Data from a U.S. satellite shows arctic sea ice thinned dramatically between the winters of 2004 and 2008, NASA scientists said.

BOULDER, Colo., April 6 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says this winter had the fifth lowest maximum coverage of arctic ice on record.

LONDON, March 1 (UPI) -- Three British explorers measuring the depth of Arctic sea ice say they will don survival suits and swim with their gear when they encounter open water.

LONDON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says satellite data show the thickness of sea ice in large parts of the Arctic declined by as much as 19 percent last winter.

GREENBELT, Md., Oct. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says the rising frequency and intensity of Arctic storms during the last half century is accelerating the rate of Arctic sea ice drift.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says the Arctic Sea, although not breaking a record for ice loss, had a faster ice melting period in August than ever before.

MOSCOW, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told United Russia Party members Thursday that the country should reactive its nuclear icebreakers.