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September 8, 2008 12:42:41 PM CDT

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Stories related to: Arctic

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  • September 2008

    • New Way to Fight Global Warming: Wipe Your Feet

      Der Spiegel  |  Sep 3, 08 7:30 PM CDT

      New Way to Fight Global Warming: Wipe Your Feet

      (Newser) - Global warming could make it easier for non-native plants to take root on the Arctic's Svalbard archipelago, but one researcher is fighting the problem on the ground level, Der Spiegel reports. Chris Ware has set up shop at Longyearbyen’s airport, where he cleans arriving passengers' shoes. "Dirt almost always contains seeds," he said. "Sometimes it is one, sometimes it is 30 or 40." More »

      Tags

      climate change  • global warming  • environment  • Arctic  • plants  • Svalbard

  • August 2008

    • Both Arctic Passages Navigable for First Time

      Der Spiegel  |  Aug 28, 08 3:41 PM CDT

      Both Arctic Passages Navigable for First Time

      (Newser) - In what scientists say is an historic moment, both Northeast and Northwest Passages are navigable as of this week, and shipping firms are salivating over the  possibilities, Der Spiegel reports. With an increasing number of largely ice-free days every summer, the radical shortcuts offered by the once-treacherous routes will eventually be incredibly profitable. At least one company is poised and eager to exploit them, when Russian authorities come through with permits. More »

    • Scientists Spot Crack at Top of the World

      Associated Press  |  Aug 22, 08 1:59 AM CDT

      Scientists Spot Crack at Top of the World

      (Newser) - A huge crack—seven miles long and a half-mile wide—has opened in a northern Greenland glacier as an 11-square-mile chunk of ice appears to be breaking off. The phenomenon is occurring in the Northern Hemisphere's largest floating glacier, once thought largely immune to the effects of global warming, reports the AP. Scientists now predict disintegration of a major portion of the glacier within the year. More »

      Tags

      Arctic  • glacier  • ice melt  • Greenland

    • US Ship Joins Race for Arctic Resources

      Reuters  |  Aug 12, 08 1:50 PM CDT

      US Ship Joins Race for Arctic Resources

      (Newser) - A Coast Guard cutter will this week begin mapping Alaska’s continental shelf, Reuters reports, in a first step toward mining data that could be used to establish rights to oil exploration in the Arctic. Melting ice caps, which one scientist calls "bad for the Arctic, but very very good for mapping," are believed to hold the next big energy bonanza. More »

  • July 2008

    • Huge Chunk Snaps Off Largest Arctic Ice Shelf

      Globe and Mail  |  Jul 30, 08 8:19 AM CDT

      Huge Chunk Snaps Off Largest Arctic Ice Shelf

      (Newser) - An 8-square-mile chunk of ice has broken off an ancient ice shelf in Canada's Arctic, the Globe & Mail reports. The Ward Hunt Shelf, the biggest in the Arctic, has shrunk over the last century from 3,500 square miles to less than 400 today. Huge cracks have appeared in the ice and more is expected to go before winter. More »

      Tags

      global warming  • Canada  • Arctic  • polar ice caps  • Canadian Arctic  • Arctic Sea  • ice shelf

    • Arctic Holds 3 Years of Oil

      Reuters  |  Jul 24, 08 7:24 AM CDT

      Arctic Holds 3 Years of Oil

      (Newser) - Enough oil is believed to lie under the rapidly thawing Arctic to last the world 3 years, Reuters reports. The USGS released a forecast yesterday estimating the region has 90 billion recoverable barrels of oil and vast natural gas reserves. The agency's director said the information was vital in order to weigh the potential destruction caused by drilling versus the benefits. More »

      Tags

      Arctic  • Arctic oil  • Arctic race  • oil reserves  • US Geological Survey  • oil field

    • Today's Drilling Rush Looks as Crude as Whale Oil Folly

      Washington Post  |  Jul 16, 08 10:37 AM CDT

      Today's Drilling Rush Looks as Crude as Whale Oil Folly

      (Newser) - On an otherwise deserted patch of Arctic ice stands an abandoned settlement, proof that humans once lived here. Nearby lies a reminder of why they came: dozens of massive whale skulls, still bleeding oil into the ground. Men once flocked to this land for whale oil, Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post; now our dependence on a different kind of oil might change it forever. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • greenhouse gases  • Arctic  • whaling

    • Arctic Boom Awash in Green Risk

      Yale Environment 360  |  Jul 10, 08 1:42 PM CDT

      Arctic Boom Awash in Green Risk

      (Newser) - As the Arctic sea ice melts, it’s uncovering vast resources, leading to an international energy and mining rush. Companies are lining up to explore the region, and nations are reviving Arctic border disputes in hopes of tapping its wealth. But the exploitation of the area’s resources could have dire environmental consequences, Ed Struzik writes on Yale Environment 360. More »

      Tags

      Canada  • Arctic  • Arctic race  • mining  • Exxon Valdez  • minerals

  • June 2008

    • Polar Bear Shot After 200-Mile Swim

      Guardian (UK)  |  Jun 6, 08 8:27 AM CDT

      Polar Bear Shot After 200-Mile Swim

      (Newser) - Police in Iceland shot dead a polar bear that swam more than 200 miles to reach the island nation, the Guardian reports. The bear, thought to be the first to reach Iceland since 1993, probably came from Greenland or a floating chunk of Arctic ice. Authorities said they had to shoot the bear for public safety, but conservationists are furious. More »

      Tags

      endangered species  • Arctic  • polar bear  • Iceland  • Greenland

  • May 2008

    • NASA Deploys Mars Probe's Robotic Arm

      Associated Press  |  May 29, 08 1:00 PM CDT

      NASA Deploys Mars Probe's Robotic Arm

      (Newser) - NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander extended its robotic arm for the first time late last night, the AP reports, a day late because of a temporary radio blackout. The arm, which will unfurl over a 2-day period, will eventually be used to take samples of ice below the surface in Mars’ arctic regions to search for evidence of life. More »

      Tags

      NASA  • space  • Mars  • Arctic  • space exploration  • Phoenix Mars Lander  • soil sample

    • Greens Blast Arctic 'Carve Up'

      Guardian (UK)  |  May 29, 08 4:49 AM CDT

      Greens Blast Arctic 'Carve Up'

      (Newser) - Environmentalists are slamming an agreement reached at a closed-door meeting among nations with Arctic claims as a resource free-for-all, the Guardian reports. Ministers from the US, Canada, Russia, Denmark, and Norway insist they simply agreed to abide by the law of the sea—but green groups charge that the nations are arranging who'll get to grab resources as global warming melts the ice. More »

      Tags

      oil  • Arctic  • ice melt  • Arctic race  • Arctic Sea

    • Huge New Cracks Seen in Arctic Ice Shelf

      BBC  |  May 24, 08 6:24 AM CDT

      Huge New Cracks Seen in Arctic Ice Shelf

      (Newser) - A Canadian expedition has found a major new network of cracks, more than 10 miles long, in the Arctic's ice shelves, the BBC reports. Scientists say the huge shelves are disintegrating; pieces become "ice islands" that can float hundreds of miles away as climate changes takes hold. Arctic sea ice shrank to a record low last year and could melt even further this summer, accelerating a scramble for the Arctic's resources. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • Canada  • Arctic  • ice melt  • Canadian Arctic  • ice shelf  • Arctic sea ice

    • 7 Minutes of Danger in Mars Quest

      Christian Science Monitor  |  May 23, 08 2:52 AM CDT

      7 Minutes of Danger in Mars Quest

      (Newser) - The latest NASA mission searching for signs of life on Mars comes to a heart-pounding climax Sunday as the Phoenix Lander attempts to touch down at the red planet's pole in a hunt for water. The lander must perform complex maneuvers in which the whole mission is at risk for a full 7 minutes, reports the Christian Science Monitor . More »

      Tags

      NASA  • Mars  • Arctic  • water  • Phoenix Mars Lander  • life  • Opportunity  • Spirit  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory  • University of Arizona  • Tufts University  • polar region

  • April 2008

    • Canada Declares Polar Bears 'At Risk'

      BBC  |  Apr 26, 08 1:07 PM CDT

      Canada Declares Polar Bears 'At Risk'

      (Newser) - Canada has classified polar bears as a species of “special concern” requiring legislative protection, the BBC reports. While the panel of experts stopped short of declaring the bears endangered, it said that melting ice and hunting problems had put the bears in jeopardy. Canada is home to 15,000 bears, and the summer sea ice they prowl may be completely gone by 2014. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • environment  • Canada  • animal  • endangered species  • Arctic  • polar bear

  • March 2008

    • Old Arctic Ice Melting Away

      Reuters  |  Mar 18, 08 7:22 PM CDT

      Old Arctic Ice Melting Away

      (Newser) - The Arctic's oldest, thickest ice is melting and may undermine the entire Arctic ice cap, NASA satellite photos show. Some 965,300 square miles of perennial ice, more than a year old, has melted over the past year—a 50% decrease. Losses of older, hardier frost are even greater: Three quarters of ice more than 6 years old has melted in the past 12 months. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • global warming  • Arctic  • polar ice caps  • Arctic Sea  • Arctic Circle

  • February 2008
  • January 2008

    • Arctic Ice Vanishing 'Like Mad'

      LiveScience  |  Jan 30, 08 9:30 AM CST

      Arctic Ice Vanishing 'Like Mad'

      (Newser) - Ice caps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic are "receding like mad" and could be gone completely within 50 years, LiveScience reports. The fields of ice have shrunk by half in the last 50 years and haven't been so small for at least 1,600 years, according to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • global warming  • Canada  • Arctic  • Canadian Arctic

    • US Blunts Arctic Oil Warning

      Der Spiegel  |  Jan 23, 08 2:18 PM CST

      US Blunts Arctic Oil Warning

      (Newser) - A top researcher for the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was poised this week to deliver a stern warning against the oil drilling operations sweeping the Arctic—until politicians pulled the teeth from his report, Der Spiegel reports. The report needed approval from the Arctic council that commissioned it—but the US and Sweden insisted on watering down the document. More »

      Tags

      climate change  • United States  • Arctic  • Sweden  • Arctic oil  • Arctic race

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