The warming of an Arctic current over the last 30 years has triggered the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed. Scientists at the National Oceanography Centre Southampton working in collaboration with researchers from the University of Birmingham, Royal Holloway London and IFM-Geomar in Germany […]
The same things that make Alaska’s marine waters among the most productive in the world may also make them the most vulnerable to ocean acidification. According to new findings by a University of Alaska Fairbanks scientist, Alaska’s oceans are becoming increasingly acidic, which could damage Alaska’s king crab and salmon fisheries. This spring, chemical oceanographer […]
TUKTOYAKTUK, Northwest Territories – 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 […]
Without drastic cuts in emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of the Arctic’s most powerful currents and a key disperser of pollutants, is likely to disappear because of global warming by Kate Ravilious WITHIN 60 years the Arctic Ocean could be a stagnant, polluted soup. Without drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, the Transpolar Drift, one of […]
Cumulative (a) specific and (b) total mass balances of glaciers and ice caps, calculated for large regions [Dyurgerov and Meier, 2005]. Specific mass balances signalize the strength of the glacier response to climatic change in each region. Total mass balances indicate each region’s contribution to sea level. G. Kaser, J. G. Cogley, M. B. Dyurgerov, […]
Climate change is speeding up the release of carbon dioxide from frigid peatlands in the sub-Arctic, fuelling a vicious circle of global warming, according to a recently published study. An increase of just 1°C over current average temperatures would more than double the CO2 escaping from the peatlands. Northern peatlands contain one-third of the planet’s […]
Arctic sea ice extent for the month of July was the third lowest for that month in the satellite record, after 2007 and 2006. The average rate of melt in July 2009 was nearly identical to that of July 2007. A strong high-pressure system, similar to the atmospheric pattern that dominated the summer of […]
By David Ljunggren OTTAWA (Reuters) – Regions of Arctic tundra around the world are heating up very rapidly, releasing more greenhouse gases than predicted and boosting the process of global warming, a leading expert said on Wednesday. Professor Greg Henry of the University of British Columbia also said higher temperatures meant larger plants were starting […]
By Christopher Joyce When wildlife biologists visited a remote spot in Canada called Banks Island in the spring of 2004, they discovered thousands upon thousands of dead musk oxen. It took years to determine the cause. They called it “rain-on-snow” — the worst case of it ever documented. “Long story short, about 20,000 musk oxen […]
By Cameron Dueck on the Bering Sea The Canadian Arctic is facing another year of open water with the summer break-up of sea ice ahead of schedule in many key parts of the northern archipelago. The early break-up of ice underlines the growing impact of climate change in the Poles where temperatures have risen much […]
