February, 29 2008 Establishment of Arctic Regional Ocean Observing System
An Arctic Regional Ocean Observing System (Arctic ROOS) has been
established by a group of fourteen institutions from nine European
countries working actively with ocean observation and modeling systems
for the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas. Arctic ROOS has established a
secretariat at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in
Norway.
For further information, please go to:
http://arctic-roos.org/
or contact:
Stein Sandven
Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center
Phone: NO +47 55205800
E-mail: stein.sandven@nersc.no
February, 13 2008 Arctic mapping may bolster US claims
New mapping data could bolster any claims the U.S.
might make in the Arctic as nations in the region compete for potentially rich
reserves of oil, gas and minerals buried beneath the sea floor, federal
scientists said Monday.
Federal officials said the data would support the U.S. should it choose to
jockey with Russia, Canada and other circumpolar nations under the international
Law of the Sea treaty to carve out boundaries off their northern coasts.
The Law of the Sea confers sovereign rights over a country's continental
shelf beyond the normal boundary of 200 nautical miles if the country can
substantiate its claims through scientific evidence.
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February, 11 2008 Collapsing ice shelf may not have been the victim of global warming
Global warming may not be entirely to blame for the collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf in 2002, according to research published today.
The 10,000-year-old Larsen B ice shelf was initially believed to be a victim of climate change.
But a paper published in the Journal of Glaciology claims the shelf had been teetering on collapse for decades.
Professor Neil Glasser, of Aberystwyth University, the paper's lead author, said cracks and fault lines in the ice had significantly weakened the structure.
"Ice shelf collapse is not as simple as we first thought," he said.
"Because large amounts of meltwater appeared on the ice shelf just before it collapsed, we had always assumed that air temperature increases were to blame.
"But our new study shows that ice shelf break-up is not controlled simply by climate.
"A number of other atmospheric, oceanic and glaciological factors are involved. For example, the location and spacing of fractures on the ice shelf such as crevasses and rifts are very important too because they determine how strong or weak the ice shelf is."
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February, 6 2008 ‘Tipping point’ for Greenland ice
Global warming this century could trigger a runaway thaw of Greenland`s ice sheet and other abrupt shifts such as a dieback of the Amazon rainforest, scientists said on Monday.
They urged governments to be more aware of "tipping points" in nature, tiny shifts that can bring big and almost always damaging changes such as a melt of Arctic summer sea ice or a collapse of the Indian monsoon.
"Society may be lulled into a false sense of security by smooth projections of global change," the scientists at British, German and US institutes wrote in a report saying there were many little-understood thresholds in nature.
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February, 5 2008
In graphics: Aurora Borealis polar ship
European ship designers are currently working on what is billed as the "most advanced polar research vessel in the world."
Aurora Borealis, as it is called, is set for launch in 2014 and promises to shed light on a host of polar mysteries. Explore more about the ship's distinctive features using the links below.
Aurora Borealis, is the brainchild of the European Science Foundation (ESF) and researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute.
"It's a unique ship," said Dr Paul Egerton, Executive Director, European Polar Board.
"It will look at the deep hydrothermal vents, the deep ocean ridges where there is volcanic activity, deep sediments, biological processes in the shallow waters as well as current observations of weather conditions and climate."
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February, 4 2008
UNIS launches new web site
UNIS launched its new web site today, after almost a year of preparations.
- UNIS wants to present our information services in an organized, accessible and nice looking way, and we believe the new web site fulfills this aim, says UNIS director Gunnar Sand.
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