BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Nearly 200 satellite photos taken this month reveal Arctic summer ice is going away faster than predicted, raising the distinct possibility of an ice-free, open shipping lane along northern Alaska, Canada and Greenland.

The European Space Agency said new satellite images show ice at its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978, exposing unexplored resources, and allowing vessels to shave thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by bypassing the Panama Canal. The seasonal ebb and flow of ice levels has already opened a slim summer window for ships.

Leif Toudal Pedersen, of the Danish National Space Center, said that Arctic ice has shrunk to some 1 million square miles. The previous low was 1.5 million square miles, in 2005.

"The strong reduction in just one year certainly raises flags that the ice (in summer) may disappear much sooner than expected," Pedersen said in an ESA statement posted on its website Friday.

Pedersen said the extreme retreat this year suggested the passage could fully open sooner than expected ─ but ESA did not say when that might be. A U.N. panel on climate change has predicted that polar regions could be virtually free of ice by the summer of 2070 because of rising temperatures and sea ice decline, ESA noted.

Environmentalists fear increased maritime traffic and efforts to tap natural resources in the area could one day lead to oil spills and harm regional wildlife.

Until now, the passage has been expected to remain closed even during reduced ice cover by multiyear ice pack ─ sea ice that remains through one or more summers, ESA said.

The opening observed this week was not the most direct waterway, ESA said. That would be through northern Canada along the coast of Siberia, which remains partially blocked.

(Agencies)