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Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record
More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30 years.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice in the Arctic now covers about 2.03 million square miles. The lowest point since satellite measurements began in 1979 was 1.65 million square miles set last September.
With about three weeks left in the Arctic summer, this year could wind up breaking that previous record, scientists said.
Arctic ice always melts in summer and refreezes in winter. But over the years, more of the ice is lost to the sea with less of it recovered in winter. While ice reflects the sun's heat, the open ocean absorbs more heat and the melting accelerates warming in other parts of the world.
Sea ice also serves as primary habitat for threatened polar bears.
"We could very well be in that quick slide downward in terms of passing a tipping point," said senior scientist Mark Serreze at the data center in Boulder, Colo. "It's tipping now. We're seeing it happen now."
Within "five to less than 10 years," the Arctic could be free of sea ice in the summer, said NASA ice scientist Jay Zwally.
"It also means that climate warming is also coming larger and faster than the models are predicting and nobody's really taken into account that change yet," he said.
Five climate scientists, four of them specialists on the Arctic, told The Associated Press that it is fair to call what is happening in the Arctic a "tipping point." NASA scientist James Hansen, who sounded the alarm about global warming 20 years ago before Congress, said the sea ice melt "is the best current example" of that.
Last year was an unusual year when wind currents and other weather conditions coincided with global warming to worsen sea ice melt, Serreze said. Scientists wondered if last year was an unusual event or the start of a new and disturbing trend.
This year's results suggest the latter because the ice had recovered a bit more than usual thanks to a somewhat cooler winter, Serreze said. Then this month, when the melting rate usually slows, it sped up instead, he said.
The most recent ice retreat primarily reflects melt in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast and the East Siberian Sea off the coast of eastern Russia, according to the center.
The Chukchi Sea is home to one of two populations of Alaska polar bears.
Federal observers flying for a whale survey on Aug. 16 spotted nine polar bears swimming in open ocean in the Chukchi. The bears were 15 to 65 miles off the Alaska shore. Some were swimming north, apparently trying to reach the polar ice edge, which on that day was 400 miles away.
Polar bears are powerful swimmers and have been recorded on swims of 100 miles but the ordeal can leave them exhausted and susceptible to drowning.
And the melt in sea ice has kicked in another effect, long predicted, called "Arctic amplification," Serreze said.
That's when the warming up north is increased in a feedback mechanism and the effects spill southward starting in autumn, he said. Over the last few years, the bigger melt has meant more warm water that releases more heat into the air during fall cooling, making the atmosphere warmer than normal.
Overall, the picture of what's happening in the Arctic is getting worse, said Bob Corell, who headed a multinational scientific assessment of Arctic conditions a few years ago: "We're moving beyond a point of no return."
(Click the link for the rest of the article) More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happenin... more -
Northwest Passage open for business in the Arctic
For the second year in a row, the fabled Northwest Passage has opened in the Arctic—thanks to a sea-ice melt that has already shrunk the polar cap to the second smallest extent ever recorded. And with a few more weeks to go in the summer thaw season, 2008 could surpass 2007 as the smallest amount of sea ice on record, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC).
This year's record-breaking melt was, to some extent, set up by the 2007 season—also a record-breaker. More open ocean means more trapped heat in the water, which means that thinner ice forms during the long Arctic winter. Thinner ice melts more readily when temperatures rise. So, despite a relatively cool summer this year, the sea ice is just melting away.
That has led some scientists to predict that the summer Arctic could be ice-free within a decade. But be careful what you wish for: Although that may open some shipping lanes and fishing grounds, it's bad news for polar bears and other Arctic sea life. As it stands, the sea ice needs to shrink by just 166,000 square miles (430,000 square kilometers) to surpass last year's record, after having already shrunk 760,000 square miles (two million square kilometers) below average.
And, according to NSIDC, this year's melt is continuing at a "brisk pace," unlike previous record years, which slowed by the end of August. That means by late September a new low in global warming annals may be reached. For the second year in a row, the fabled Northwest Passage has opened in the Arctic—thanks to a sea-ice melt that has alread... more -
Arctic Sea Ice Level Plummets
"Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Sea ice melt recorded on Monday exceeded the low recorded in 2005, which had held second place.
With several weeks left in the melt season, ice in summer 2008 has a chance to diminish below the record low set last year, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Environmental groups said the ice melt was another alarm bell warning of global warming.
"It's an unfortunate sign that climate change is coming rapidly to the Arctic and that we really need to address the issue of global warming on a national level," said Christopher Krenz, Arctic project manager for Oceana.
"This is not surprising but it is alarming," said Deborah Williams, a former Interior Department special assistant for Alaska. "This was a relatively cool summer, and to have ice decrease to the second lowest minimum on record demonstrates that global warming's ongoing impact is profound."
The National Snow and Ice Data Center, based at the University of Colorado, reported the ice Monday melted below the 2005 minimum of 2.05 million square miles set on Sept. 21 that year. Exact figures will be released Wednesday.
Through the beginning of the melt season in May until early August, daily ice extent for 2008 closely tracked the values for 2005, the center said.
In early August 2005, the decline began to slow. In August 2008, however, the decline has remained steadily downward at a brisk pace.
The most recent ice retreat primarily reflects melt in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast and the East Siberian Seas off the coast of eastern Russia, according to the center.
The Chukchi Sea is home to one of two populations of Alaska polar bears.
Federal observers flying for a whale survey on Aug. 16 spotted nine polar bears swimming in open ocean in the Chukchi Sea. The bears were 15 to 65 miles off the Alaska shore. Some were swimming north, apparently trying to reach the polar ice edge, which on that day was 400 miles away.
Polar bears are powerful swimmers and have been recorded on swims of 100 miles but the ordeal can leave them exhausted and susceptible to drowning in high seas.
Sea ice is the primary habitat of polar bears. They depend on it to hunt their primary prey, ringed seals, which create lairs on ice for breeding maintain breathing holes with powerful claws.
Summer sea ice last year shrunk to about 1.65 million square miles, nearly 40 percent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000. Most climate modelers predict a continued downward spiral, possibly with an Arctic Ocean that's ice free during summer months by 2030 or sooner.
Krenz said the announcement Tuesday showed that last year's record low sea ice was not an anomaly. As ice covers fewer square miles of ocean, he said, warming will accelerate.
"It's going to accelerate climate change through changes in the reflectance of the Arctic," he said. "It's going from bright ice to a much darker ocean."
More square miles of dark ocean will absorb more heat. More warmth will accelerate melting of Arctic permafrost, allowing organic matter now frozen to melt and add to the greenhouse gas problem, he said.
"That allows for the breakdown of that by bacteria and other organisms that release CO2 or methane, depending on how the breakdown occurs," he said.
The effects faced by people in the Arctic eventually will reach the rest of the nation and the world, he warned." "Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the ... more -
Arctic Climate Tipping Point Happening Now! Sea Ice in Its “Death Spiral” Scientis...
After yesterday’s ominous news that North American permafrost (and presumably European and Asian, as well) stores 60% more greenhouse gases than we thought, here’s another siren announcing that we are rushing full speed ahead towards a climatic tipping point:
Scientists are reporting that the extent of sea ice in the Arctic is at the second lowest point on record. Currently ice covers 2.03 million square miles; last year's sea ice coverage, 1.59 million square miles, set the record. In the past ten years Arctic sea ice has declined 10 percent.
Given the seriousness of the situation, I’ll let the scientists speak for themselves:
We Are Watching the Tipping Point Happen
Mark Serreze, a scientist from the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado was quoted by Reuters:
No matter where we stand at the end of the melt season it’s just reinforcing this notion that Arctic Ice is in its death spiral.
Serreze also told the AP that:
We could very well be in that quick slide downward in terms of passing a tipping point. It’s tipping now. We’re seeing it happen now.
Climate Change Happening More Quickly Than Models Have Predicted
The same article quoted NASA ice scientist Jaw Zwally as saying that within 5-10 years the Arctic could be ice-free in the summer. He added that this also means that:
Climate warming is also coming larger and faster than the models are predicting and nobody’s really taken into account that change yet.
As a commenter pointed out in my post on permafrost from yesterday, this is really the sort of news that should be on the front page of every newspaper, at the top of the broadcast of every nightly news service. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment.
It's hard to not sound shrill with this: Climate change is happening more quickly than we thought in the Arctic and the frozen soils in the region contain a lot more stored carbon than the models used so far. Unless we get a handle on this now (yesterday would've been even better) global warming could very well overtake our efforts to slow it. That's not to say that we should throw in the towel (as no doubt some people will think) but rather is another sign that we have to redouble our efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on a global level. After yesterday’s ominous news that North American permafrost (and presumably European and Asian, as well) stores 60% more greenhouse ... more -
Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record
Arctic sea ice has shrunk to the second-lowest level since record-keeping began three decades ago, a group of international researchers determined yesterday, a revelation underscoring how rapidly climate change is transforming ecosystems in northern latitudes.
The extent of Arctic sea ice is now 2 million square miles below the long-term average for Aug. 26, according to the International Arctic Research Center and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, a figure that is within 400,000 square miles of the all-time record low set in September 2007. This figure is already below the long-term average for September ice cover and because the ice traditionally reaches its minimum level in mid-September, researchers warned that a new low might be recorded within weeks.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), which independently analyzes Arctic ice cover, will announce today that it has reached the same conclusion, based on a five-day mean of satellite measurements.
"If we continue to lose ice at this rate, we will best" the 2007 record, said Julienne Stroeve, an research scientist. "We're going to lose that ice, so we've got to understand what this means for the rest of us."
According to the data center's recent reports, the ice over the Chukchi Sea is "already showing patches of open water within the ice. Much of the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska is open and the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea have opened extensively in the past 13 days."
The shrinking sea ice is increasing the pressure on polar bears in the region: A recent federal aerial survey found nine polar bears swimming in Alaska's Chukchi Sea, with one at least 60 miles from shore.
Margaret Williams, who directs the World Wildlife Fund's Alaska office and traveled to Barrow, Alaska, last week to assess how sea ice decline is affecting polar bears, said that while these animals have swum in open ocean in the past, they are now traveling much longer distances.
Researchers now estimate that summer sea ice in the Arctic is likely to disappear altogether by 2030, but Stroeve said the new satellite data suggest sea ice could vanish sooner than that.
Two weeks ago, the federal Climate Change Science Program released a "synthesis and assessment" report examining global warming in the Arctic and northern latitudes that suggests the region has already suffered ice loss of an "immense magnitude and unprecedented nature."
The report, which is open for public comment until Sept. 25, adds that the "current sea ice reduction . . . is progressing at a very fast rate that appears to have no analogs in the past" and that "sustained changes in sea-ice coverage may cause perhaps the largest temperature changes observed on the planet."
Stroeve said researchers anticipated this year's ice decline could rival last year's because so much of the Arctic's ice cover is one-year ice, which is thinner than ice that has built up over multiple years. This year, 73 percent of the Arctic Basin is composed of first-year ice, compared with 60 percent last year. In 1985, first-year ice made up 35 percent of the Arctic Basin. Arctic sea ice has shrunk to the second-lowest level since record-keeping began three decades ago, a group of international researcher... more -
Global warming time bomb trapped in Arctic soil: study
Climate change could release unexpectedly huge stores of carbon dioxide from Arctic soils, which would in turn fuel a vicious circle of global warming, a new study warned Sunday.
And according to one commentary on the research, current models of climate change have not taken this extra source of greenhouse gas into account.
Scientists have long known that organic carbon trapped inside a blanket of frozen permafrost covering one fifth of the world's land mass would, if thawed, release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
But until now they simply did not have a good idea of how much carbon is actually locked inside this Arctic freezer.
To find out, a team of American researchers led by Chien-Lu Ping of the University of Alaska Fairbanks examined a wide range of landscapes across North America.
They took soil samples from 117 sites, each to a depth of at least one metre, in order to provide a full assessment of the region's so-called "carbon pool."
Previous estimates of the Arctic carbon pool relied heavily on a relative handful of measurements conducted outside of the Arctic, and only to a depth of 40 centimetres (15.5 inches).
The study, published in the British journal Nature Geoscience, found that the stock of organic carbon "is considerably higher than previously thought" -- 60 percent more than the previously estimated.
This is roughly equivalent of one sixth of the entire carbon content in the atmosphere.
And that is just for North America. The size and mix of landscapes in the northern reaches of Europe and Russia are about the same, and probably contain a comparable amount of carbon-dioxide producing matter currently held in check only by the cold, the study said.
And the danger of a thaw is real, note climate scientists.
photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/71485028@N00/206612972/
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This has not been taken into account in climate models. Ten years now seems like a long time to wait to do something about climate change. I say, if we count on politicians to see the moral urgency of this in time to act accordingly, we're screwed. Time for them to have their feet held to the fire. Climate change could release unexpectedly huge stores of carbon dioxide from Arctic soils, which would in turn fuel a vicious circle o... more -
US Cold War waste irks Greenland
Pentagon refuses to clean up toxic military bases, saying it would set a bad precedent.
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Polar bears sighted in open water
"Federal officials confirm 10 polar bears, an unusually large number, have recently been seen swimming in open Alaskan waters.
Arctic ice melts in the Chukchi Sea are the suspected cause of the bears swimming toward either land or more remote icebergs, The New York Times (NYSE:NYT) reported Saturday. Such sightings were rare until 2004 but have grown more common as polar bears hunt for seals.
"It's not unusual for bears to be swimming," said Susanne Miller, a biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Service, "but depending on their condition and how much time they're spending in the water, this could be problematic. It's going to cost them more energy to swim through water than travel on land."
Eight of the 10 bears seen in an aerial survey were within 15 miles of shore. Others were 35 and 50 miles from shore.
"There were some years when some bears may have had to swim as far as 100 miles," Steven C. Amstrup, the senior polar bear scientist with the US Geological Survey in Anchorage, wrote in an e-mail message. "Now the ice is much farther offshore, more consistently and for longer." "Federal officials confirm 10 polar bears, an unusually large number, have recently been seen swimming in open Alaskan waters. ... more -
Canada begins mapping Arctic sea floor
Canada's latest bid to assert sovereignty in the Arctic -- a sea floor mapping mission in the Beaufort Sea -- got under way
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Hungry Musk-Oxen, Caribou Could Help Warming Arctic
Grazing musk-oxen and caribou may help protect the fragile Arctic ecosystem from the effects of global warming, according to a new study.
Large grazers could help the region by feasting on woody shrubs and plants that would otherwise take over as temperatures rise and change the way the Arctic looks and functions.
If shrubs dominated, they would darken Arctic lands and absorb more heat from the sun, enhancing warming due to greenhouse gases.
"Careful management and conservation of existing populations of musk-oxen and caribou, as well as other large herbivores, should be a priority in plans to mitigate the effects of climate change on ecosystems," said study leader and Pennsylvania State University researcher Eric Post.
"Until now, these animals seem to have been regarded more as background noise than as an active component of the ecosystem's response to warming," said Post, a National Geographic grantee. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
Grazing Control
As carbon dioxide levels continue to increase, the Arctic is heating up faster than almost anywhere else.
This additional warmth will likely boost the growth of woody shrubs at the expense of grasses in the Arctic, according to the study published online this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Keeping [large grazers] in the picture will help maintain other components of the Arctic as we know it, or at least moderate the effects of global warming," Post said.
Post and Christian Pedersen, also at Penn State, used plots in western Greenland to measure the effects of these grazing animals.
Fences kept several patches free of grazers. Some of these patches were also enclosed by clear plastic walls, which raised temperatures inside by 2.7 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 to 3 degrees Celsius), simulating future warming.
In the plots off-limits to grazers, shrubs such as dwarf birch spread, crowding out grasses, which make up nearly half of the biomass in western Greenland studied by Post.
**continues** Grazing musk-oxen and caribou may help protect the fragile Arctic ecosystem from the effects of global warming, according to a new stu... more -
Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered
Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear this summer".
The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. Yet there is, however, something odd going on with the ice data. Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the ... more -
Hunt on for ships lost in 1845 quest
The brilliantly-named HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, trapped in Arctic ice during an 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage, are to be searched for and excavated by a team of Canadians.
The exact fate of the sailors remains a mystery, and the ships of the Franklin expedition have never been found. But frozen corpses, believed to be crew members, have been discovered before along the route. The search team will be helped by native Inuit oral history to locate their searches.
Theories for the crews' grisly demise have included stories of cannibalism among the doomed men, and lead poisoning from tinned food supplies. The brilliantly-named HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, trapped in Arctic ice during an 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage, are to... more -
Northwest Passage is navigable again
A modest recovery of the Arctic ice cover had been predicted for this summer after a cool winter, but accelerating ice loss this month has increased the chance that 2008's melt could come close to last year's. A modest recovery of the Arctic ice cover had been predicted for this summer after a cool winter, but accelerating ice loss this month... more
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U.S. ship heads for Arctic to define territory!
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter will embark on an Arctic voyage this week to determine the extent of the continental shelf north of Alaska and map the ocean floor, data that could be used for oil and natural gas exploration.
U.S. and University of New Hampshire scientists on the Coast Guard Cutter Healy will leave Barrow, Alaska, on Thursday on a three-week journey. They will create a three-dimensional map of the Arctic Ocean floor in a relatively unexplored area known as the Chukchi borderland.
The Healy will launch again on September 6, when it will be joined by Canadian scientists aboard an icebreaker, who will help collect data to determine the thickness of sediment in the region. That is one factor a country can use to define its extended continental shelf.
With oil at $114 a barrel, after hitting a record $147 in July, and sea ice melting fast, countries like Russia and the United States are looking north for possible energy riches.
"These are places nobody's gone before, in essence, so this is a first step," said Margaret Hays, the director of the oceanic affairs office at the U.S. State Department. She said the data collected may provide information to the public about future oil and natural gas sources for the United States.
This will be the fourth year that the United States has collected data to define the limits of its continental shelf in the Arctic.
Russia, which has claimed 460,000 square miles of Arctic waters, last summer planted its flag on the ocean floor of the North Pole.
Hays said the Alaskan continental shelf may lie up to 600 nautical miles from the coastline, far beyond the 200-mile (322-km) limit where coastal countries have sovereign rights over natural resources.
The research could also shed light on other potential energy resources, like methane frozen in ice under the ocean, that Hays said might one day have some commercial interest.
Larry Mayer, a university scientist, said melting sea ice, presumably from global warming, helped last year's mission. "It was bad for the Arctic, but very very good for mapping." A U.S. Coast Guard cutter will embark on an Arctic voyage this week to determine the extent of the continental shelf north of Alaska a... more -
'Unprecedented' melt sinks hope for Arctic ice recovery
The Arctic Ocean ice cover, which appeared earlier this summer to be headed for a moderate recovery after last year's record-setting retreat, has begun disintegrating so rapidly in recent weeks that experts now say the ice loss by mid-September could exceed even 2007's history-making meltdown.
The Canadian Ice Service is reporting an "unprecedented" opening of waters in the Beaufort Sea north of the Yukon-Alaska border, where expected increases in ship traffic have just prompted the U.S. Coast Guard to establish two new outposts on Alaska's north coast to strengthen its vessel-monitoring and search-and-rescue capabilities.
Last year, 14 million square kilometres of Arctic Ocean ice shrank to just over four million between March and September. The minimum is typically reached in mid-September.
It's now a "neck-and-neck race between 2007 and this year over the issue of ice loss," Mark Serreze, a senior climate researcher at the U.S. ice data centre told Britian's Guardian newspaper yesterday. "We thought Arctic ice cover might recover after last year's unprecedented melting -- and indeed the picture didn't look too bad last month."
But recent storms in the Beaufort region "triggered steep ice losses," he said, "and it now looks as if it will be a very close call indeed whether 2007 or 2008 is the worst year on record for ice cover over the Arctic."
The Canadian government's chief observers of Arctic ice conditions are expressing amazement at the state of the Beaufort Sea.
"We've never seen any kind of opening like this in history," senior ice forecaster Luc Desjardins said of the Beaufort's exceptional loss of ice this summer. "It is not only record-setting, it's unprecedented. It doesn't resemble anything that we've observed before."
Last year's record melt is chiefly responsible for this year's accelerating retreat of sea ice. So much of the thicker, multi-year ice in the Arctic was lost in 2007 that -- despite a relatively cold winter -- much more of the polar cap at the start of this year's melt season consisted of thinner, weaker first-year ice that didn't stand a chance of surviving the summer.
"It takes less solar energy to dissipate and melt that ice," says Mr. Desjardins. "So we potentially could reach a new minimum. Time will tell if we are going to be approaching the 2007 sea-ice retreat -- there still five weeks (of melting) to go." The Arctic Ocean ice cover, which appeared earlier this summer to be headed for a moderate recovery after last year's record-sett... more -
Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up
Scientists warn that the North Pole could be free of ice in just five years' time instead of 60.
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Mollusk Migration to the Arctic
'North Pacific shellfish—including snails and other mollusks—may blaze a path across the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic if the sea ice melts in coming decades as predicted, a pair of scientists said today.
Mollusks traveled the northern passage when the Arctic was last ice free, about 3.5 million years ago, during a warm stage of the Pliocene, which spanned 5.3 to 1.8 million years ago, the scientists say.
The Arctic route was cut off when temperatures cooled, starving the ocean of phytoplankton—the floating plants that mollusks need to survive, explained Geerat Vermeij, a geologist at the University of California at Davis.
Current climate models suggest the Arctic will be ice free by 2050. In that scenario, conditions would be similar to those during the mid-Pliocene, and the mollusk migration would resume, the scientists say.' 'North Pacific shellfish—including snails and other mollusks—may blaze a path across the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic if th... more -
Arctic Map shows dispute hotspots
British scientists say they have drawn up the first detailed map to show areas in the Arctic that could become embroiled in future border disputes.
A team from Durham University compiled the outline of potential hotspots by basing the design on historical and ongoing arguments over ownership.
Russian scientists caused outrage last year when they planted their national flag on the seabed at the North Pole.
The UK researchers hope the map will inform politicians and policy makers.
"Its primary purpose is to inform discussions and debates because, frankly, there has been a lot of rubbish about who can claim (sovereignty) over what," explained Martin Pratt, director of the university's International Boundaries Research Unit (IBRU).
"To be honest, most of the other maps that I have seen in the media have been very simple," he added.
"We have attempted to show all known claims; agreed boundaries and one thing that has not appeared on any other maps, which is the number of areas that could be claimed by Canada, Denmark and the US."
Read more... British scientists say they have drawn up the first detailed map to show areas in the Arctic that could become embroiled in future bor... more -
Feds Protect Huge Areas of the Bering Sea from Trawling
The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Friday that nearly 180,000 square miles of the Bering Sea will be closed to destructive bottom trawling to protect important seafloor habitats and marine life effective August 25, 2008. These in-the-water protections reflect an approach first developed by Oceana, and supported by local communities and other conservation organizations, that freezes the current area, or "footprint," where trawling already occurs in the Bering Sea and prevents trawlers from expanding into previously untrawled areas.
The final regulations establish a northern boundary for trawling in the Bering Sea to protect the marine life and ecosystems of the northern Bering Sea and Arctic from the impacts of bottom trawling, where huge nets are dragged across the seafloor, pulverizing corals, sponges and other seafloor life in a technological race to fish harder and longer.
The Bering Sea is home to 26 species of marine mammals, including the critically endangered northern right whale; millions of seabirds hailing from all seven continents; more than 450 species of fish; and some of the world's largest submarine canyons. Blue, humpback, gray and bowhead whales travel through the Bering Sea each year. The northern Bering Sea shelf is critical habitat for endangered spectacled eiders, with the entire population of these large seabirds coming to the Bering Sea each winter to feed on the clams and invertebrates that live in and on the seafloor. Clams and seafloor invertebrates are also a significant source of food for Pacific walrus.
According to the National Academy of Sciences, fishing boats that trawl on the bottom destroy important seafloor habitat, decimating corals, sponges and other sensitive areas. Many of these seafloor animals and habitat areas can take centuries to recover, if they recover at all. Much is still not know about the possible impacts of bottom trawling in the northern Bering Sea, and the fishing industry has been aggressively expanding in recent years. The National Marine Fisheries Service announced Friday that nearly 180,000 square miles of the Bering Sea will be closed to destructiv... more -
Fragmenting Arctic ice shelf a sign of warming temperatures
The fracture of a four-square-kilometre chunk of ice from the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic last week is a one-way change brought on by warming temperatures, says a scientist who has studied the process.
Derek Mueller, a polar scientist and research fellow at Trent University, in Peterborough, Ont., said the ice breaking off from the Ward Hunt Island Ice Shelf, just north of Ellesmere Island, marks the continuation of a process that has been years in the making.
"Ice shelves don't just break up. There's no karate chop," he said. "This is the result of a gradual weakening over time as a result of warming temperatures."
Mueller said the changes in the shelf, which surrounds Ward Hunt Island off the north coast of Ellesmere, provide further evidence the planet, and in particular the North, is warming due to climate change.
An expedition by U.S. explorer Robert Peary in 1906 put the size of the Ellesmere Island Ice Shelf at just under 9,000 square kilometres. The ice shelf has since broken up into smaller pieces, the largest of which is the Ward Hunt Island Shelf. The total area of all of these pieces is now less than 900 square kilometres.
Mueller said if year-to-year warming wasn't occurring, Arctic researchers would have been able to detect some renewal of ice during the winter months, either through thickening of the ice or the spread of the shelves. But researchers haven't seen any sign of renewal, he said.
"This is a one-way change," he said. The fracture of a four-square-kilometre chunk of ice from the largest remaining ice shelf in the Arctic last week is a one-way change ... more
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