The International Polar Year (IPY) 2007–2008, co-sponsored by ICSU and WMO, was the largest coordinated research program in the Earth's polar regions, involving over 50,000 researchers, local observers, educators, students, and support personnel from more than 60 nations in 228 international IPY projects.
A comprehensive summary of the research initiative "Understanding Earth's Polar Challenges: International Polar Year 2007-2008" is now available in online
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Sheree Yau form the University of New South Wales and an international research team, including researchers from the University of Maryland, have discovered a new virophage – a virus that attacks other viruses – in Organic Lake along the Ingrid Christensen Coast in Antarctica. Virophages have been found on four continents so far, including Antarctica, and the virophages discovered in Organic Lake is the third known to science (the first virophage, called Sputnik, was discovered in 2008 in the dirty water of a Parisian cooling tower and infects one of the world’s largest viruses).
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NOAA's Fisheries Service scientists studying the cooperative hunting behavior of killer whales in Antarctic waters observed the animals favoring one type of seal over all other available food sources, according to a study published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
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If you're sitting on a bench in New York City's Central Park in winter, you're probably freezing. After all, the average temperature in January is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. But if you were just across the pond in Porto, Portugal, which shares New York's latitude, you'd be much warmer -- the average temperature is a balmy 48 degrees Fahrenheit.
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The maximum extent of Arctic sea ice before melting season starts is at its lowest ever measured by satellites. Without ice the Polar bear hardly survives.
Scientists at the University of Colorado have followed the extent of the Arctic ice cap with satellites since 1979. Never before has the maximum winter extent of the sea ice been smaller than March 2011, according to the findings published at the portal of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre.
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Pechora LNG project owner Alltech is planning to pick partners to the project this year.
China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC) may invest in Pechora LNG, a new LNG production project in the Nenets Autonomous region, said Vladimir Mikulik, CEO of SN-Neftegaz that manages oil and gas assets of Pechora LNG project owner Alltek
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Warmer air is only part of the story when it comes to Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet. New research by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) highlights the role ocean circulation plays in transporting heat to glaciers.
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Research scientist Sönke Maus has used funding under the Research Council's Programme on Synchrotron Research (SYNKROTRON) to develop a method of taking samples from polar ice without altering its extremely fragile microstructure. He has also laid the foundation for determining how molecular structure affects the mechanical properties of ice. This knowledge is vital for predicting the impact of ice on future activities in the Arctic Ocean.
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raditionally very sceptical to foreign policy compromises, but now communist newspaper Pravda applauds the Barents Sea delimitation deal with Norway.
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Norway welcomed a Russian State Duma vote ratifying a treaty to divide the Barents Sea into clear Norwegian and Russian zones, bringing Norway closer to a new oil and gas drive in the Arctic.
"The action in the Duma is gratifying, and is a big step toward implementing the agreement," Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Kjetil Elsebutangen said on Saturday, a day after Russia's lower house of parliament ratied the deal.
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The freshwater content of the upper Arctic Ocean has increased by about 20 percent since the 1990s, according to a new large-scale assessment. This corresponds to a rise of approximately 8,400 cubic kilometres and has the same magnitude as the volume of freshwater annually exported on average from this marine region in liquid or frozen form.
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A great majority of the Russian State Duma today approved the Treaty on the delimitation of the Barents Sea. While the United Russia Party voted in favor of the deal, both the Communist Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the A Just Russia Party opposed the treaty.
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Russia's boreal forest -- the largest continuous expanse of forest in the world, found in the country's cold northern regions -- is undergoing an accelerating large-scale shift in vegetation types as a result of globally and regionally warming climate. That in turn is creating an even warmer climate in the region, according to a new study published in the journal Global Change Biology and highlighted in the April issue of Nature Climate Change.
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To all those interested in Education, Outreach and Communication during the latest International Polar Year!
Since the close of the International Polar Year (IPY) in the June 2010, the IPY Education, Outreach and Communication (EOC) Assessment Project has been working to collect information on Education, Outreach and Communication projects that occurred during the 2007-2009 International Polar Year.
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In a finding that has global implications for climate research, scientists have discovered that when icebergs cool and dilute the seas through which they pass for days, they also raise chlorophyll levels in the water that may in turn increase carbon dioxide absorption in the Southern Ocean.
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The Ice Drilling Program Office (IDPO) announces the launch of its new education-focused website, entitled IDPO Climate Expeditions (ICE). The site offers ice core-related lesson plans and resources for middle and high school classrooms; career profiles and links to universities with glaciology research centers for students; and informational articles, reliable resources, and multi-media for the public. To access this website, please go to: http://www.climate-expeditions.org.
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Recent climate modeling has shown that reducing the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would give Earth a wetter climate in the short term. New research from Carnegie Global Ecology scientists Long Cao and Ken Caldeira offers a novel explanation for why climates are wetter when atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are decreasing. Their findings, published online March 24 by Geophysical Research Letters, show that cutting carbon dioxide concentrations could help prevent droughts caused by global warming.
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The 2011 Arctic sea ice extent maximum that marks the beginning of the melt season appears to be tied for the lowest ever measured by satellites, say scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center.
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Several Russian government institutions are involved in the elaboration of new legislation on environmental security on the shelf.
The fatale oil spill in the Mexico Gulf in 2010 was an eye-opener for Russian authorities, which currently face a number of new offshore projects on the country’s shelf, both in the Arctic, the Far East, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
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Fire discovered in an 80,000 tons pile of coal in Svea on Svalbard.
The fire in the pile near the harbour of Svea was discovered Tuesday morning, reports Svalbardposten.
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SSF is organizing a workshop with focus on: "Environmental changes in Svalbard since the last glacial maximum - integrating marine and terrestrial records".
The workshop will take place at the Fram Centre, Tromso, Norway, 27-29 April 2011.
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The report "Confronting the Global Water Crisis through Research -- 2010," carried out by Elsevier and released March 22, reveals the increasingly international and strategic nature of water resources research. Examining major trends in water research at the international, national and institutional levels, the report highlights the escalation in the article output of countries conducting water resources research and the expansion of such research into strategic disciplines. Elsevier used Scopus data and one of the solutions from its performance and planning suite, SciVal Spotlight, to develop a detailed analysis of country and institutional strengths in the field.
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Design contract is signed for an offshore platform with landing space for five helicopters.
The contract is signed with Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering after a tender announced by Gazflot, a subsidiary of Gazprom. Rubin is widely known for designing several of the Russian nuclear powered submarine classes, like the giant Typhoon subs.
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The ocean traps carbon through two principal mechanisms: a biological pump and a physical pump linked to oceanic currents. A team of researchers from CNRS, IRD, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, UPMC and UBO (1) have managed to quantify the role of these two pumps in an area of the North Atlantic. Contrary to expectations, the physical pump in this region could be nearly 100 times more powerful on average than the biological pump. By pulling down masses of water cooled and enriched with carbon, ocean circulation thus plays a crucial role in deep carbon sequestration in the North Atlantic.
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Based on a workshop arranged by SSF in November 2008, this brief report defines core elements of the Atmosphere Research Flagship programme in Ny-Alesund.
The document summarizes the atmospheric research that has been undertaken in Ny-Alesund and discusses future research prioritities, as well as the establishment and further development of common research infrastructure. The Atmosphere Research Flagship programme is the second of several flagships aiming to strengthen international cooperation in Ny-Alesund.
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A Russian floating research station near the North Pole could open its doors for annual tourist trips by April 1, polar explorer Artur Chilingarov said on Monday.
The Barneo research station, just 150 km from the North Pole, has been in operation for 10 years. It converted into a touring base for about a month each year.
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Global warming is clearly affecting plants and animals, but we should not try to tease apart the specific contribution of greenhouse gas driven climate change to extinctions or declines of species at local scales, biologists from The University of Texas at Austin advise.
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A new carbon model allows scientists to estimate sources and losses of organic carbon in surface waters in the United States. Study results indicate that streams act as both sources and sinks for organic carbon.
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The Norwegian Climate and Pollution Authority fears oil drilling in the waters around the Arctic island of Jan Mayen.
The environmental watchdog fears that drilling in the area will affect the vulnerable Arctic nature. There are not sufficient preparedness facilities in the area, the authority writes in a press release.
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Once in Resolute Bay you feel like you are at the edge of the world, your view is of nothing but snow covered hills and sea ice.
Explorers walking to the North Pole are flown from here to locations northward for their trek across the frozen sea. This is not our final destination either. We are headed further north to a more remote location, the sea ice in the jaws of Deer Bay (Ellef Ringnes Island).
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A Russian ratification of the agreement with Norway on delimitation of the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean is one step closer to realization.
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The nuclear-powered submarines “USS New Hampshire” and “USS Connecticut” are currently conducting submarine operations in Arctic waters, the U.S. Navy informs.
The two submarines started the exercise ICEX-2011 on March 15, the U.S. Navy's web site reads.
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Traditionally a forum for Arctic science and low-tension political questions, the Arctic Council plans to change as the Arctic itself is rapidly changing. Ministers meet in May.
Foreign Ministers representing the eight Arctic states will fly to Nuuk on Greenland on May 12th to form the future of Arctic politics and cooperation. All four Barents Region foreign ministers will be there.
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As the Arctic ice melts, Germany wants to make sure its scientists gain unfettered access to the region. They have been hindered by the Russians, and other Arctic nations have been hesitant to cooperate. But Berlin also has its eyes on the bigger North Pole booty: natural resources and sea routes.
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Researchers and flight crew arrived in Thule, Greenland, on March 14 for the start of NASA's 2011 Operation IceBridge, an airborne mission to study changes in Arctic polar ice. This year's plans include surveys of Canadian ice caps and expanded international collaboration.
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On March 16 and 17, members the Arctic Council will gather in Copenhagen. The Arctic Council is a regional forum that promotes international cooperation on environmental protection and sustainable development in the Arctic.
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University of Alberta researchers have determined that the influence of northern peatlands on the prehistorical record of climate change has been over estimated, but the vast northern wetlands must still be watched closely as the planet grapples with its current global warming trend.
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The Catlin Arctic Survey is a unique collaboration among polar explorers and scientists to gather data on the impacts of climate and environmental change in the Arctic.
This 10-week international scientific expedition will travel to the farthest reaches of the Arctic to research the impact of melting ice caps on the world's oceans and weather systems. In recent years, the surface area of Arctic ice has declined to levels that were not expected until 2070.
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As scientists try to better understand and put together the puzzle of Earth's climate, the role of clouds remains one of the most important missing pieces.
Researchers from four NASA centers, other U.S. agencies and several colleges and universities are set to participate in the Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX), an airborne field campaign based at Ellington Field, Texas, that aims to answer some major questions about clouds.
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America urgently needs to build up its military readiness in the Arctic where melting summer sea ice is setting up a global struggle for resources, a study prepared for the US navy has warned
The report by the National Academy of Sciences warned that climate change could upset the delicate security balance in the Arctic and that America is unprepared for the challenges ahead, the New York Times reports.
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International climate negotiations are deadlocked between the affluent global North and "developing" South, between political Left and Right, and between believers and deniers. Now, authors writing in the latest issue of the International Journal of Water argue that a more integrative analysis of climate should help resolve these conflicts.
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Unusually low temperatures in the Arctic ozone layer have recently initiated massive ozone depletion. The Arctic appears to be heading for a record loss of this trace gas that protects Earth's surface against ultraviolet radiation from the sun. This result has been found by measurements carried out by an international network of over 30 ozone sounding stations spread all over the Arctic and Subarctic and coordinated by the Potsdam Research Unit of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) in Germany.
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The territories, continental shelves and exclusive economic zones of eight countries exist within the Arctic: Russia (largest Arctic border), Canada, the United States (Alaska), Norway, Denmark (Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Sweden and Iceland.
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The latest evidence of the dominant role humans play in changing Earth's climate comes not from observations of Earth's ocean, atmosphere or land surface, but from deep within its molten core.
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The Norwegian government has decided to put on halt the exploration of the Lofoten area, but instead heightens its focus on the petroleum resources in the Barents Sea.
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Climate change will pose major new hurdles for U.S. naval forces, forcing the military to grapple with an emerging Arctic frontier, increasing demand for humanitarian aid and creating rising seas that could threaten low-lying bases, the National Academy of Sciences said yesterday.
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Climate researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) expand a prevalent theory regarding the development of ice ages. In the current issue of the journal Nature three physicists from AWI's working group "Dynamics of the Palaeoclimate" present new calculations on the connection between natural insolation and long-term changes in global climate activity. Up to now the presumption was that temperature fluctuations in Antarctica, which have been reconstructed for the last million years on the basis of ice cores, were triggered by the global effect of climate changes in the northern hemisphere. The new study shows, however, that major portions of the temperature fluctuations can be explained equally well by local climate changes in the southern hemisphere.
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Shipping company Sovcomflot plans to send an oil tanker along the Northern Sea Route in May, one of the most ice-rich months of the year.
First Deputy Director of the shipping company Yevgeny Ambrosov told journalists that this year’s first oil tanker will be sent through the route already in May.
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The Norwegian government will this month present a revised management plan for the Barents Sea and the Lofoten waters. A “yes” to oil production in Lofoten could make the government coalition rupture.
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It was a thundering display of Canada's northern resolve with jet fighters, a frigate and even a submarine, but a recently released poll suggests such exercises in military prowess play to the public's mistaken belief the Arctic is under threat.
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Research scientist Sonke Maus has used funding under the Research Council's Programme on Synchrotron Research (SYNKROTRON) to develop a method of taking samples from polar ice without altering its extremely fragile microstructure. He has also laid the foundation for determining how molecular structure affects the mechanical properties of ice. This knowledge is vital for predicting the impact of ice on future activities in the Arctic Ocean.
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In 2007 four new large subglacial lakes were reported in the upper reaches of the Recovery ice stream, in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. The collective extent of these lakes, whose existence was deduced from satellite data, would have put them among Antarctica’s largest, second only to Lake Vostok.
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Tourists will soon be able to cross the border from Norway by river boat to the historic famous BorisGleb chapel located in Russia’s restricted border area.
Very few visitors have been to the chapel in recent years. The beautiful red chapel is located on the river banks of what today forms the Norwegian Russian border. Due to its location in the border zone, Russians also need special permission to visit the holy area.
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By year 2030, Gazprom intends to produce an annual 200 billion cubic meters of gas and 10 million tons of oil on the shelf, the company’s revised Shelf Development Programme states.
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Russian lower house of parliament, the State Duma, will ratify a maritime border demarcation treaty with Norway within a month, Russian Foreign Monister, Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
Last year Russia and Norway signed a deal to delimitate their maritime border in the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean after 40 years of negotiations.
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The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at an accelerating pace, according to a new NASA-funded satellite study. The findings of the study -- the longest to date of changes in polar ice sheet mass -- suggest these ice sheets are overtaking ice loss from Earth's mountain glaciers and ice caps to become the dominant contributor to global sea level rise, much sooner than model forecasts have predicted.
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Many Americans are skeptical about whether the world's weather is changing, but apparently the degree of skepticism varies systematically depending on what that change is called.
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Ongoing climate-driven changes to the Arctic sea-ice could have a significant impact on the blooming of tiny planktonic plants (phytoplankton) with important implications for the Arctic ecosystem, according to new research conducted by scientists at the UK's National Oceanography Centre (NOC).
"Ice-edge phytoplankton blooms in the Arctic Ocean provide food for planktonic animals called zooplankton, which are in turn exploited by animals higher up the food chain such as fish," explained Dr Andrew Yool, one of the team of NOC researchers.
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Scientists working in the remotest part of Antarctica have discovered that liquid water locked deep under the continent's coat of ice regularly thaws and refreezes to the bottom, creating as much as half the thickness of the ice in places, and actively modifying its structure. The finding, which turns common perceptions of glacial formation upside down, could reshape scientists' understanding of how the ice sheet expands and moves, and how it might react to warming climate, they say.
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Imagine the vast, empty tundra in Alaska and Canada giving way to trees, shrubs and plants typical of more southerly climates. Imagine similar changes in large parts of Eastern Europe, northern Asia and Scandinavia, as needle-leaf and broadleaf forests push northward into areas once unable to support them. Imagine part of Greenland's ice cover, once thought permanent, receding and leaving new tundra in its wake.
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Sea-ice algae -- the important first rung of the food web each spring in places like the Arctic Ocean -- can engineer ice to its advantage, according to the first published findings about this ability.
The same gel-like mucus secreted by sea-ice algae as a kind of antifreeze against temperatures well below minus 10 C is also allowing algae to sculpt microscopic channels and pores in ice that are hospitable to itself and other microorganisms.
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The world’s northernmost mining company Store Norske on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is upgrading one of its mines to secure coal production for another 20 years.
Store Norske’s board has decided to invest NOK 100 million (€13 million) in Mine 7. The money will be used for new equipment, a new storage for coal and new loading facilities, says Managing Director of Store Norske Bjorn Arnestad.
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Phytoplankton peak arising up to 50 days early, with unknown impacts on marine food chain and carbon cycling.
Warming temperatures and melting ice in the Arctic may be behind a progressively earlier bloom of a crucial annual marine event, and the shift could hold consequences for the entire food chain and carbon cycling in the region.
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In April the oil rig Polar Pioneer arrives in Tromsø for rig maintenance, being the first oil rig performing such work in Tromso.
The harbor authorities of Tromso have invested approximately € 2 million to prepare an area outside the city centre for oil rig maintenance operations. On the 2nd of April the oil rig Polar Pioneer will anchor in Tromsø to start the maintenance and prepare it for drilling at the Skarv field outside northern Norway later this year.
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Report published by Akvaplan-Niva evaluates the effect of today`s cruise tourism on the environment around Svalbard.
The report, financed by the Svalbard Environmental Protection Fund, has been ordered by AECO (Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators). The work focusses mainly on the marine environment, but emissions to air and consequences of landings have also been assessed.
The authors A. Evenset and G. N. Christensen conclude that environmental awareness among the ship`s personnel, the expedition teams and the tourists is very high. They also state, that operational emissions from today`s expedition cruise ships have a relatively minor impact on the environment, provided that laws and regulations are followed.
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Climate researchers at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association (AWI) expand a prevalent theory regarding the development of ice ages. In the current issue of the journal Nature three physicists from AWI's working group "Dynamics of the Palaeoclimate" present new calculations on the connection between natural insolation and long-term changes in global climate activity. Up to now the presumption was that temperature fluctuations in Antarctica, which have been reconstructed for the last million years on the basis of ice cores, were triggered by the global effect of climate changes in the northern hemisphere.
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Arctic Field Grant remains a popular source of fieldwork funding for students and researchers based in Norway. We have received 61 applications for fieldwork, 1 was withdrawn and 59 were accepted. As many as 23 researchers and 37 students have secured funds for this years' field work in Svalbard. In total 2,8 mln NOK were distributed.
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The Norwegian Polar Institute, as the competent authority, has made a decision to formally report the expedition leader of the Berserk expedition to Norwegian prosecuting authorities for violation of the Antarctic regulations.
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The Russian Federal Border Agency plans to establish a monitoring network in the Arctic, from Novaya Zemlya to Wrangel Island, the FBA first deputy head said on Tuesday.
"This will ensure effective control over the Arctic," Col. Gen. Vyacheslav Dorokhin said.
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BP's recent moves might suggest the company has masochistic tendencies. Having suffered one of the world's worst offshore blowout last year, BP has signed up to go hunting in remote, environmentally fragile Arctic waters.
And of all countries, it has chosen to do that in Russia, the country that Bob Dudley, the American who is now BP's chief executive, was forced to flee in 2008 saying he had suffered "sustained harassment" from the Russian authorities.
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The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) has released a new version of the map portal TopoSvalbard.
The updated version has more functions than the previous one, giving the user the possbibility to plot coordinates and to measure the distance between chosen points. The base map is the same as in the previous version, but NPI is planning to improve the cartographic part of this map portal little by little.
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A new kind of vessel is being specially designed to tolerate the tough, frigid conditions in the Arctic to allow for the repair and maintenance of sub sea installations...
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This winter's heavy snowfalls and other extreme storms could well be related to increased moisture in the air due to global climate change, a panel of scientists said on Tuesday.
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Lodgepole pine, a hardy tree species that can thrive in cold temperatures and plays a key role in many western ecosystems, is already shrinking in range as a result of climate change -- and may almost disappear from most of the Pacific Northwest by 2080, a new study concludes.
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Unrest in the Middle East means the potential oil riches in Arctic areas like Greenland are more important than ever, the island's premier said on Wednesday, criticizing environmental groups that want to hamper exploration.
Greenland, which enjoys self-rule as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, has issued 20 licenses for oil and gas exploration in Baffin Bay on its West coast.
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At the request of U.S. Sen. Inhofe, the Department of Commerce Inspector General conducted an independent review of the emails stolen in November 2009 from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England, and found no evidence of impropriety or reason to doubt NOAA’s handling of its climate data. The Inspector General was asked to look into how NOAA reacted to the leak and to determine if there was evidence of improper manipulation of data, failure to adhere to appropriate peer review procedures, or failure to comply with Information Quality Act and Freedom of Information Act guidelines.
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