Inside Alaska business Oct 16, 2009
The three-day symposium is designed to initiate discussions for conserving and managing future fisheries in the Arctic Ocean, including managing migratory, trans-boundary and straddling fish stocks. The symposium will identify current management regimes in the region, and how relevant scientific and fisheries data can be used to inform future management decisions. (Anchorage Daily News)
* Arctic to be ice-free in summer in 20 years: scientist Oct 16, 2009
Global warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the summer within 20 years, raising sea levels and harming wildlife such as seals and polar bears, a leading British polar scientist said yesterday. Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge, said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
Arctic ice to vanish in summer, report says Oct 16, 2009
LONDON, England (CNN) -- New data released Thursday suggests that the Arctic Ocean will be "largely ice free" during summer within a decade ... "Discovering this area of younger ice provides another body of information that supports the rapidly emerging scientific consensus that it's going to be nearer 10 years from now that we will see roughly 80-85 percent free waters in the Arctic Ocean," Hadow told CNN.. (CNN)
VIDEO: Arctic Ice Mostly Gone in Ten Years? Oct 16, 2009
October 15, 2009 Data released this week by researchers who spent three months this spring measuring ice on the Arctic Ocean suggests that the North Pole could be largely open sea in summer within a decade and ice free by 2029. 2009 National Geographic (AP). (National Geographic)
Three Decades Of Global Cooling Oct 14, 2009
According to the NSIDC, second-year ice this summer made up 32% of the total ice cover on the Arctic Ocean, compared with 21% in 2007 and 9% in 2008. Clearly, Arctic sea ice is not following the consensus touted by Gore and the warm-mongers. (Investors Business Daily)
Hunting an Arctic asteroid with a hovercraft Oct 14, 2009
Two Arctic scientists seeking evidence of an ancient asteroid strike on the Arctic Ocean floor have created a research vessel that can cross thick ice that icebreakers cannot penetrate. American John Hall and Norwegian Yngve Kristofferson have outfitted a hovercraft to help them test their hypothesis about an ocean-floor anomaly above Greenland and Canada's Ellesmere Island. (Anchorage Daily News)
Weather Patterns Confirm Climate Ch... Oct 13, 2009
In Alaska the sea ice has decreased dramatically and the Arctic Ocean may become ice free in the summer months in the not too distant future. The reduction in sea ice in Alaska has allowed more extreme erosion of the coastline due to stronger wave action. (Suite101.com)
Cruise ship visit marks opening of the Far North Oct 13, 2009
The problem, said Trudy Wohlleben, a forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service, is that heavy melting in the waterway allowed large chunks of ice from the Arctic Ocean to flow in from the north, making for treacherous waters ... "People are going to be coming past Alaska. And if we are there to offer the services to those ships that want to go either way, if we're there to protect the ships while they're in our sphere of influence, if we offer better services than our neighbor next door in... (Juneau Empire)
NASA flies to Antarctica for largest airborne polar ice survey Oct 9, 2009
The Antarctic flights follow the first Operation Ice Bridge airborne campaign earlier this year over Greenland and the Arctic Ocean. The mission will map key areas in each polar region once a year. (EurekAlert!)
Earths resources have been abused Oct 8, 2009
Enough ice has melted in the Arctic Ocean to allow the recent passage of two German cargo ships delivering power plant construction machinery to Siberia originating from a port in South Korea, using the previously ice-blocked Northeast Passage ... The destination of this new route is located about one half the distance around the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Siberia, and ending almost at the north coast of Finland. (Lake Wales News, FL)
* Food chain at risk as Arctic turns acidic Oct 5, 2009
Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered ... By the end of the century, the entire Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic ... His research suggests that 10 percent of the Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic by 2018, 50 percent by 2050 and 100 percent ocean by 2100. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Alaska is set to lead in renewable energy Oct 4, 2009
Alaska is, in many ways, ground zero for obvious climate change impacts -- reduced pack ice in the Arctic Ocean, loss of permafrost, major shifts in bird and wildlife behavior and plant disease vectors related to climate change. The great efforts going on right now to relocate the village of Newtok are indicative of the challenges to come in a future of global warming. (Anchorage Daily News)
Vanishing Arctic ice shows no sign of returning Oct 3, 2009
ON BOARD COAST GUARD FLIGHT ABOVE BEAUFORT SEA, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Out in the Arctic Ocean, about 200 miles (322 km ) north of the nearest human settlement, the future of the world's climate is written in the patterns of ice patches on the 's surface ... A warmed Arctic Ocean emits heat into the atmosphere that drastically alters weather patterns, he said ... Total summer ice cover in the Arctic Ocean is only about half the level it was in 1950, according to the IPCC. This year's summer minimum... (Scientific American)
Ancient Earth's Magnetic Field Was Like Today's Oct 3, 2009
9, 2005) After some 400 years of relative stability, Earth's North Magnetic Pole has moved nearly 1,100 kilometers out into the Arctic Ocean during the last century and at its present rate could move from. (Apr. (Science Daily)
Icebreaker Healy returns to Seattle from Arctic Oct 3, 2009
The return Thursday completes the summer scientific mission that included mapping parts of the Arctic Ocean sea floor in cooperation with a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, the Louis S. St-Laurent. Back in Seattle, the 420-foot Healy will go into a drydock for maintenance. (Juneau Empire)
Trampling blamed for Alaska walrus deaths Oct 2, 2009
In recent years, however, sea ice has receded far beyond the relatively shallow outer continental shelf over deep Arctic Ocean waters where it's too deep for walruses to dive to the ocean bottom. An estimated 3,500 walruses were spotted Sept. 12 at Icy Cape, about 140 miles southwest of Barrow. (Anchorage Daily News)
Medical personnel participate in Arctic goodwill deployment Sep 30, 2009
While the medical staff and water safety teams were working with residents, the Coast Guard was testing four types of small boats - a special purpose craft-shallow water boat, a 25-foot response boat, an 18-foot Sea Wolf kite boat and a 24-foot response boat - to see how they would react in Arctic ocean conditions. In addition to testing, the military personnel consulted with village residents about the region. (Juneau Empire)
Arctic Oil Tempts Norway to Push Its Drilling Frontier to `Gates of Hell' Sep 25, 2009
BP, Europes second-largest oil company, estimates the Arctic Ocean may hold around 200 billion barrels of oil equivalent, or 25 percent to 50 percent of the worlds undiscovered hydrocarbons. The last year estimated the area to hold 90 billion barrels of oil. (Bloomberg)
Earth needs users' guide to protect it from people Sep 24, 2009
"Observations of an incipient climate transition include the rapid retreat of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, melting of almost all mountain glaciers around the world, and an increased rate of sea-level rise in the past 10-15 years," he said. The scientists said the current relatively stable temperatures of the Holocene era since the end of the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago was under threat from human -- or anthropogenic -- activities. (Scientific American)
Thousands Ask Interior to Stop Arctic Oil Probes Sep 23, 2009
The requests were in response to a new offshore drilling plan pushed through by the George W. Bush administration during its last days that calls for opening most of Alaska's Arctic Ocean region and 5. 6 million acres of Bristol Bay to oil and gas development. (Newsmax)
Oceanographers Examine Mercury Levels Of Pelagic Fish In Hawaii Sep 22, 2009
(June 18, 2009) Researchers conducting a water study in the Mackenzie River Delta have found a dramatically higher delivery of mercury from the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean than determined in previous. . (Science Daily)
River Deltas Sinking Due To Human Activity Sep 21, 2009
16, 2008) Arctic rivers transport huge quantities of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the Arctic Ocean. The prevailing paradigm regarding DOC in arctic rivers is that it is largely refractory, making it of. (Science Daily)
Learning true facts about planet makes my head spin Sep 21, 2009
We agreed there is an Arctic Ocean somewhere north of here ... If there is an Arctic Ocean, why not an Antarctic ... This did help, though: "Today, the world ocean is generally divided into four main oceans: Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean (and) Pacific Ocean.". (The Augusta Chronicle)
Understand the Arctic before exploiting it Sep 21, 2009
But for all the outstanding scientific investigation conducted in the region over the last century, crucial questions about the Arctic Ocean remain unanswered ... We do know, however, that an oil spill in the Arctic Ocean's pristine waters and its fragile marine ecosystem would be disastrous ... The U.S. Arctic Ocean's oil and gas reserves will remain unharmed while we weigh the costs and benefits of extracting them. (Herald Online, SC -- Opinion)
Arctic sea ice levels third-lowest on record Sep 19, 2009
models disagree as to when the Arctic Ocean might be ice-free in summer, but some scientists think it might happen as early as 2030 ... "We re entering a new epoch of sea-ice melt in the Arctic Ocean due to climate change," says Peter Wadhams, an oceanographer at the University of Cambridge, UK, who is conducting research in the Fram Strait off Greenland aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise. (Scientific American)
Arctic Ice Melts to Third-smallest Area on Record Sep 19, 2009
Once again this year, the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic Ocean along the coast of Siberia opened, enabling two German ships to navigate the passage with Russian icebreaker escorts. Russian vessels have traversed the passage many times over the years, but the maritime fleets of other nations are showing more interest in the route as the summer thaw expands. (Newsmax)
Salazar says he may wait on offshore drilling plan Sep 18, 2009
Meanwhile, more than 400 scientists from the United States and 20 other countries signed a strongly worded letter urging the Obama administration to defer offshore oil and gas development in the Arctic Ocean until research can adequately assess potential risks to fragile marine ecosystems. The scientists said the Bush-era proposal was made without sufficient understanding of the environmental consequences for the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and lacked full consultation with Alaska resident and... (Longview Daily News, WA)
Heat-loving Bacteria Found In Cold Arctic Ocean Sep 18, 2009
18, 2009) A team of scientists led by U of C grad Casey Hubert has detected high numbers of heat loving, or thermophilic, bacteria in subzero sediments in the Arctic Ocean off the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen ... These thermophiles exist in the Arctic Ocean sediment as spores dormant forms that withstand adverse conditions for long periods, waiting for better times ... (July 26, 2005) At home in the deep, dark Arctic Ocean, the marine bacterium Colwellia psychrerythraea 34H keeps very cool --... (Science Daily)
Arctic Ocean ice melt slows a bit this summer Sep 18, 2009
Arctic Ocean ice melt slows a bit this summer. Published: September 17th, 2009 11:31 AMLast Modified: September 17th, 2009 11:32 AM. (Anchorage Daily News)
Arctic Sea Ice Shrank to Third-Lowest Summer Minimum on Record This Year Sep 18, 2009
The NSIDC has said the shrinking polar ice cap is a harbinger of climate change amid global warming blamed on the use of industrial pollutants and warns that the Arctic Ocean may be largely ice-free as soon as 2030. This year, the ice at its lowest point covered more ocean than in 2008 or 2007, when it hit a record low of 4. (Bloomberg -- Canada)
Second chance Sep 17, 2009
The satellite's Russian rocket had malfunctioned just a few minutes after blasting clear of an old Soviet missile complex and had ditched in the Arctic Ocean. Designed to make unprecedented measurements of the thickness of Arctic sea-ice, Cryosat had ended up in charred pieces hundreds of metres below the very subject it was meant to monitor from above. (BBC News -- Technology)
Arctic dips as global waters rise Sep 15, 2009
I think it's a true statement to say the Arctic Ocean is the least well understood body of water out there ... "I think it's a true statement to say the Arctic Ocean is the least well understood body of water out there." ... Dr Laxon said getting a clearer understanding of Arctic Ocean behaviour was important to the topical issue of ice melt in the region. (BBC News -- Science)
Let us now praise ... canned food Sep 13, 2009
In 1829 Captain John Ross, with his ship the Victory, made his second attempt to break through the ice packs of the Arctic Ocean: the British government had offered a prize of 20,000 pounds to the first navigator who could locate the legendary Northwest Passage. Ross s expedition came up short; the Victory s fancy new steam engine gave out; supplies ran low; things looked grim. (Boston Globe)
Our view: Racing to resources Sep 12, 2009
Icebreakers from the two countries are doing joint surveys of the high arctic ocean floor ... Only one problem for the U.S.: We won't be able to make any new claims to arctic ocean territory until we ratify the Law of the Sea treaty ... Lugar has described the treaty this way: It "expands the ability of American oil and natural gas companies to drill for resources in new areas, solidifies the Navy's rights to traverse the oceans, enshrines U.S. economic sovereignty over our Exclusive Economic... (Anchorage Daily News)
Two German merchant ships conquer famed Arctic passage Sep 12, 2009
Scientists report that the Arctic Ocean ice cap has been shrinking to unprecedented levels in recent summers, because of global warming, opening up many passages that were ice-choked in earlier times. In July, new NASA satellite measurements showed that sea ice in the Arctic was shrinking in area and thinning dramatically. (Boston Globe)
German ships poised to complete Arctic shortcut Sep 12, 2009
Two German ships are on the verge of completing the first known commercial shipping transit of the entire so-called "Northeast Passage" through the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, says a UAF professor. The ships, carrying construction materials, left South Korea in June and are on their way to the Netherlands, trying to take advantage of the summertime retreat of the ice cap because of global warming. (Anchorage Daily News)
The Climate's Warm Future Is Now in the Arctic Sep 11, 2009
And the sea ice is going, faster and faster: In the past 30 years, minimum sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has declined by 45,000 square kilometers annually* an area twice the size of New Jersey is lost each year. "Sea ice is like rainforest in the tropics. There are species that can't live without it," says ecologist Eric Post of The Pennsylvania State University, lead author of a paper in the September 11 Science that lays out a broad review of. (Scientific American)
Underwater mapping might boost Arctic claims Sep 11, 2009
The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Louis S. St.-Laurent, left, and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic Ocean ... Further examinations of the mountain may someday help explain key facts about the history of the Arctic Ocean, he said. (Anchorage Daily News)
Exploration reveals large underwater mountain Sep 11, 2009
Further examinations of the mountain may someday help explain key facts about the history of the Arctic Ocean, he said. The ships also saw something that could be a buried and extinct underwater volcano, but it also may just be a ridge, Mosher said. (MSNBC -- Environment)
Arctic mirage: Don't count on new oil Sep 10, 2009
"Mapping deep and complex underwater rock formations takes considerable time, far more than the Arctic Ocean much of it still frozen over outside late summer currently allows. In such circumstances, scientific 'estimates' do not deserve to be called any more than the wildest of wild guesses.". Story tools. (Anchorage Daily News)
Arctic villagers on front line against climate change Sep 9, 2009
Geologists believe the protective Tuktoyaktuk Island, upper right, will erode away in 30-40 years, exposing the hamlet more to Arctic Ocean waves. Related Links. (Anchorage Daily News)
Federal Agency Advances Walrus Listing Petition Sep 9, 2009
The center reports ice extent declined more slowly in the first part of August this year due to a recent atmospheric circulation pattern, which transported ice toward the Siberian coast and discouraged export of ice out of the Arctic Ocean. The center said it was unlikely that 2009 will see a record low extent but the minimum summer ice will still be much lower than the 1979 to 2000 average. (W-USA News, DC)
Arctic village has that sinking feeling Sep 9, 2009
Some geologists believe the protective Tuktoyaktuk Island, upper right, will erode away in 30-40 years, further exposing thevillage to Arctic Ocean wave erosion ... Just yards away, the sound of Tuk eroding could be heard: The steel-gray Arctic Ocean crashed against a beach barrier of small boulders. (MSNBC -- Environment)
Full Story » Sep 8, 2009
In tiny `Tuk,' they man climate's front line - Yahoo. Search Type Choose a search type from the items below. (Yahoo News -- Technology)
* The meltdown on Greenland Sep 6, 2009
Earlier in the expedition, the crew believe, they became the first boat to travel through the Nares Strait west of Greenland to the Arctic Ocean in June, once impassable because of sea ice at that time of year. The predicted year when summers in the Arctic would be free of sea ice has fallen from 2100 to 2050 to 2030 in a couple of years. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Friendlier Arctic seas bring opportunity -- and risk Sep 6, 2009
Climate scientists have predicted the Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in the summer as early as 2015. That means greater marine access and longer seasons of navigation, according to the 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, published by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental body including the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Greenland, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden. (Anchorage Daily News)
Passenger stricken on Arctic Ocean cruise ship Sep 5, 2009
JUNEAU - The Coast Guard is coordinating the rescue of a German woman stricken with possible appendicitis on board a cruise ship in the Arctic Ocean ... JUNEAU - The Coast Guard is coordinating the rescue of a German woman stricken with possible appendicitis on board a cruise ship in the Arctic Ocean. (Juneau Empire)
Strange life photographed deep in Arctic Ocean Sep 5, 2009
Scientists have finally published gorgeous photos of "ice jellies" and similar creatures taken deep in the Arctic Ocean's Canada Basin earlier this decade. Cameras on a remote-controlled dive craft captured at least one new species and several others that researchers didn't expect to find in the Arctic. (Anchorage Daily News)
Canada protests US fishing ban in disputed Arctic waters Sep 4, 2009
Canada has lodged a diplomatic protest with the U.S. government over its unilateral imposition of a fishing ban in a part of the Arctic Ocean above the Alaska-Yukon border claimed by both countries. The new flare-up in a long-simmering territorial dispute over an 8,000-square-mile section of the Beaufort Sea has come to light less than two weeks before Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to visit President Barack Obama at the White House. (Anchorage Daily News)
'Arctic thaw threatens much of world' Sep 3, 2009
The WWF report concluded that melting sea ice and the release of pockets of greenhouse gases -- carbon dioxide from thawing permafrost and methane seeping from the depths of the warming Arctic Ocean -- would also fuel disruption to atmospheric and ocean currents much further afield. Arctic permafrost stores twice as much carbon as contained in the atmosphere, acording to the WWF. Some 90 percent of near surface permafrost in the Arctic could disappear by the end of the century, the report found. (India Times)
CLIMATE DEAL Sep 3, 2009
ARCTIC OCEAN ICE SHEET, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Standing on increasingly vulnerable Arctic sea ice, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made an impassioned plea for politicians to seal a global climate pact this year ... There, researchers showed Ban how they measure the ice's thickness, temperature and other qualities in the hope of finding out why more of it has been drifting out of the Arctic Ocean in past years to melt in the relatively warmer North Atlantic. (AlertNet)
Old Moon Discovery Helps Unlock Earth Ocean Secrets Sep 3, 2009
14, 2007) A team of NASA and university scientists has detected an ongoing reversal in Arctic Ocean circulation triggered by atmospheric circulation changes that vary on decade-long time scales. The results. (Science Daily)
Unnecessary 'safety' concerns are hampering farming Sep 2, 2009
While I agree with the spirit of this article and support the advancement of integrated pest management and biotechnology in the field of agriculture I would appreciate that this quote from the article be reviewed as innapropriate: "Despite, for example, decades of well-funded research to find a "smoking gun" of a major public health impact from pesticides, nothing has been found." While I do not at present have the time to cite references from primary literature I assure you, any reader, that... (BBC News -- Science)
Satellites and submarines give the skinny on sea ice thickness Sep 2, 2009
Kwok has long provided checkups on the health of Arctic sea ice the frozen sea water floating within the Arctic Ocean basin ... While satellites provide accurate and expansive coverage of ice in the Arctic Ocean, the records are relatively new ... Then in July 2009, Kwok and colleagues reported that multiyear 'permanent' ice in the Arctic Ocean has thinned by more than 40 percent since 2004. (EurekAlert!)
Polar Bear Facts Ursus maritimus Aug 29, 2009
They are well suited to the cold of the Arctic Ocean, along the Hudson River and regions of Alaska and Canada where their range extends. Their thick fur, insulating fat layer and even furry paws help them to retain heat. (Suite101.com)
Letters to the editor (8/28/09) Aug 28, 2009
The decision by the federal government to prohibit commercial fishing in the Arctic Ocean until more is known about this fragile ecosystem is indeed a wise first step ("Wise course," Aug. 23). Now it is up to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to follow the same course when it comes to oil and gas development. (Anchorage Daily News)
Maritime museum needs Juneau's help Aug 27, 2009
The USS Storis has always remained as a fond memory, even with all the time we spent in the Arctic Ocean when I was aboard ... Then you move up to the bridge where you may be able to take the helm and, with the use of modern technology, you can simulate operating the Storis in the Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean. (Juneau Empire)
Research finds higher acidity in Alaska waters Aug 24, 2009
Alaska has already seen more than its share of global warming effects: shrinking glaciers, coastal erosion, the march north of destructive forest beetles formerly held in check by cold winters, melting Arctic Ocean ice that also threatens walrus and other marine mammals. Ocean acidification, the lowering of basicity and the increase in acidity of marine waters, is tied to increased carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. (Anchorage Daily News)
Arctic holds both promise and challenges Aug 21, 2009
The Arctic is warming faster than any other place on the planet with some sea ice models now predicting the Arctic Ocean could be ice free in summer within a few decades ... As one of only five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean, the United States must be prepared to deal with the growing level of activity in the region. (Juneau Empire)
Commerce secretary approves Arctic fisheries plan Aug 21, 2009
The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible record low polar ice cap. From the barren Arctic shore of this village in Canada's far northwest, 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) north of Seattle, veteran observer Eddie Gruben has seen the summer ice retreating more each decade as the world has warmed. (Fresno Bee -- Nation)
Consensus Thaws On Global Warming Aug 21, 2009
Ice floats in the Arctic Ocean, which Greenpeace said will be ice-free during summer months by 2030. It admitted later that it made a mistake. (Investors Business Daily)
Methane seeps from Arctic sea bed Aug 19, 2009
Their most significant finding is that climate change means the gas is being released from more and deeper areas of the Arctic ocean. Professor Minshull said: "Our survey was designed to work out how much methane might be released by future ocean warming; we did not expect to discover such strong evidence that this process has already started.". (BBC News -- Science)
Eni aims for first oil flow at North Slope field in 2010 Aug 19, 2009
Barging equipment through icy Arctic Ocean waters to the North Slope is limited to a narrow window each summer. Much work, however, has been completed on Nikaitchuq. (Anchorage Daily News)
Visual Time Machine Offers Tourists A Glimpse Of The Past Aug 18, 2009
14, 2007) What caused the extinction of the woolly rhinoceros ten thousand years ago from an area in Europe covering the coasts of the Arctic Ocean in the north to the coasts of the Mediterranean in the south. (Aug. (Science Daily)
Arctic Warming Releases Methane From Seabed Aug 15, 2009
7, 2007) According to a recent paper published by MBARI geologists and their colleagues, methane gas bubbling through seafloor sediments has created hundreds of low hills on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. . (Science Daily)
