We saw and heard about the impacts, from slumping land due to the melting of permafrost to hunter stories about the northward migration of species and the challenge that early icebreakup poses for transportation.
News of the Wilkins ice shelf's impending break-up came less than two weeks after the United Nation's Environment Program reported that the world's glaciers are melting away and that they show "record" losses.
Above-freezing temperatures also led to overflow along the trail, a potentially dangerous situation where water has pushed up through the ice and refrozen, creating a weak top layer ofice that teams and mushers can break through.