By John Vidal, environment editor, www.guardian.co.uk23 August 2012 Arctic sea ice is set to reach its lowest ever recorded extent as early as this weekend, in “dramatic changes” signalling that man-made global warming is having a major impact on the polar region. With the melt happening at an unprecedented rate of more than 100,000 sq […]
By Joanne Howl15 August 2012 From Dr. Jon Ranson: […] But the common face of the forest can be summed in one word: change. Whether viewed from helicopter, boat, or on foot, huge areas of forest show the effects of fires. Some fires are recent, but most burned a couple of decades in the past. […]
By Maria-José Viñas, NASA Earth Science News Team 9 August 2012 An unusually strong storm formed off the coast of Alaska on August 5 and tracked into the center of the Arctic Ocean, where it slowly dissipated over the next several days. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color […]
By Robin McKie, science editor, www.guardian.co.uk11 August 2012 Sea ice in the Arctic is disappearing at a far greater rate than previously expected, according to data from the first purpose-built satellite launched to study the thickness of the Earth’s polar caps. Preliminary results from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 probe indicate that 900 cubic kilometres […]
By Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post 5 August 2012 POINT HOPE, Alaska – Fermented whale’s tail doesn’t taste the same when the ice cellars flood. Whaling crews in this Arctic coast village store six feet of tail — skin, blubber and bone — underground from spring until fall. The tail freezes slowly while fermenting and […]
By Alison Singer; Edited by Antonia Sohns26 July 2012 Rezaul Karim Chowdhury is from Kutubdia, a Bangladeshi island in the Bay of Bengal. When Chowdhury was younger, the palm-dotted tropical island spanned 65 square kilometers, but rising sea levels and erosion have since shrunk it by more than half, to only 25 square kilometers. With […]
By CORNELIA DEAN23 July 2012 WHITEHORSE, Yukon Territory – […] Today, as the road now known as the Alaska Highway celebrates its 70th birthday, cars and trucks flash along what Wally Hidinger calls “a very good standard two-lane highway” from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Fairbanks, Alaska. “Our mantra is bare, dry pavement 365 days […]
By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk25 July 2012 The gust of warm air that caused the unprecedented thaw in Greenland’s surface ice also appears to have caused unusually high runoff from a glacier, wiping out a crossing near a key research and transport hub. Scientists who fly in Kangerlussuaq, near the western edge of […]
By Natasha Vizcarra24 July 2012 Arctic sea ice continued to track at levels far below average through the middle of July, with open water in the Kara and Barents seas reaching as far north as typically seen during September. Melt onset began earlier than normal throughout most of the Arctic. Overview of conditions As of […]
By Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, www.guardian.co.uk24 July 2012 The Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate this month than at any other time in recorded history, with virtually the entire ice sheet showing signs of thaw. The rapid melting over just four days was captured by three satellites. It has stunned and alarmed […]
