Fox News carries a NASA story about their folks spotting odd-looking features on the surface ice 50 miles north of the Mackenzie River delta in the Beaufort Sea. Go check out their video of the site.
I have my own theory of what caused them, a Russian sub lurking on the bottom, dumping excess reactor heat via a heat exchanger. Minor plumes of warm water rising through a cold, ice-covered sea could cause the features pictured. And yes, seals would certainly take advantage of the breathing holes thereby created.
Later ... see a much better photo at the National Geographic website. The boffins want to blame sea critters, if so why is this something "never seen before"? There are no new sea animals. I say it's a sub with cooling issues, likely Russian or Chinese.
