Three skiers, trying to prove global warming is melting arctic sea ice, decided to ski to the North Pole.

Three British explorers have set out on a 90-day skiing expedition to the North Pole, measuring sea ice thickness the whole way to find out exactly how fast it is disappearing, according to the Catlin Arctic Survey.

The data gathered will complement satellite and submarine observations and help ice modelling of the polar ice by experts, including Wieslaw Maslowski, who recently predicted the Arctic Ocean could be ice free as early as 2013, the London-based survey said in a statement.

Global warming is believed to be the main culprit in the rapidly melting north polar ice cap that is freeing up new sea routes and untapped mineral resources on the ocean bottom.

That was on March 1st. It seems, however, that Mother Nature can be a real bitch sometimes. In stunning irony, the team has been trapped by a blizzard.

Project director and ice team leader Pen Hadow and his colleagues Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels are now down to half rations and fighting to survive in brutal sub-zero weather conditions.

"We're hungry, the cold is relentless, our sleeping bags are full of ice and, because we're not moving, the colder we get," Hadow said Tuesday in a statement from the London headquarters of the Catlin Arctic Survey.

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During the past 17 days temperatures have consistently dropped below minus 40 degrees Celsius [in real degrees (F) that's also minus 40], and have been accompanied by strong winds increasing the chill factor.

Bad weather has forced three attempts to drop food supplies to the team on a landing strip close to their camp to turn back.