November, 25 2008 A very cold war indeed
As the polar icecap melts, huge deposits of gas and oil below the seabed will become accessible for the first time. But the question of who owns what in the Arctic is far from clear. With major military build-ups beginning in the area, Oliver Burkeman heads north to investigate.
To reach the village of Tuktoyaktuk, in the extreme north of Canada's Northwest Territories, you first fly to Inuvik, a town of 4,000 people inside the Arctic Circle that is, from the point of view of most Canadians, ridiculously far north in the first place. Then you drive north. You can do this only in winter, because about a mile outside Inuvik the road comes to an end; the rest of the journey is on a frozen river, and then, after a while, on the frozen Arctic Ocean itself. (In summer, when the sea melts, Tuktoyaktuk is accessible only by boat or turbo-prop plane.)
November, 19 2008 IPY Photo Project
During the last few years many new collaborations and friendships have developed through IPY… as a simple way to capture those memories, we are putting together a collection of photos from participants that will remind us of the highs and lows of this time.
This is not a photographic exhibition, or for commercial use - it is really just memories, hopefully representing the breadth and diversity of IPY activities.
November 18, 2008 Czechs establish polar research institute
Czech research in the Arctic and Antarctic regions will be coordinated by the National Centre of Polar Regions Research that was established in Brno Thursday.
It was created by seven institutions whose representatives work in the sphere of polar regions.
he Czech Republic has the Mendel Polar Base in the Antarctic, while another base is being established in the northern Svalbard.
The Centre will coordinate the work of research teams in the poles and represent Czech polar explorers abroad.
The researchers hope that its establishment will contribute to the research receiving more funds on research as well as maintenance of both polar bases.
The founders include Masaryk University, that administers the Mendel Base, and South Bohemian University that is creating the base at Svalbard.
Besides, research in the regions is also conducted by the Geological Service of the Czech Republic, various institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the society Comenium.
November 17, 2008
The online textbook on climate modeling
This online textbook could be followed section by section, presenting first the climate system and its components, then the way various types of climate models are developed and used, and finally the application of those concepts to the analysis of the climate during different periods. Alternatively, we designed the web site so that the entry can be first a term of the glossary or a result of the search engine, then navigating through the whole textbook to obtain the required information. Readers looking for the explanation of a precise point or for a more general overview of a topic could also follow the two different approaches.
November, 14 2008
Marine invasive species advance with a rate of 50 kilometers per decade caused by global warming
The fast migration of invasive marine species from the south to the north, caused by global warming, is one of the results disclosed today Tuesday during the presentation of the First World Conference on Marine Biodiversity in the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, in Valencia.
The investigators report that invasive species of macroalgae spread at 50 Km per decade, a distance far larger than that covered by invasive terrestrial plants, possibly due to the rapid dispersion of their propagules in the ocean, according to Nova Mieszkovska, from the Marine Biological Association of the U.K.
Eurasian Arctic Sub-Office 2006. All rights reserved.
