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December 2, 2008 8:57:26 AM CST

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10 Stories

Polar Bears May Have Yet Another Worry: Sharks

Bone is found in the stomach of a Greenland shark

Reuters Reuters Aug 12, 08 6:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - As if polar bears in the North Pole didn't have enough to worry about these days: Scientists have found the bone of a young bear in the stomach of a Greenland shark, Reuters reports. The unprecedented discovery prompts a "million dollar question," says one researcher: Do the bears now have to worry about sharks as predators? It seems improbable that the sluggish shark could catch and kill a bear, but the possibility raises intriguing questions. More »

More about:  global warming • polar bear • polar ice caps • shark • shark attack • deadly animals • predators

OPINION

 Ice Reveals Climate History

Research offers window into changes

New York Times New York Times Aug 3, 08 12:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Over the next three summers in Greenland, a group of international scientists will unearth samples of the country’s ice core down to its very bedrock, in the hopes of painting a complete picture of Earth's changing climate. Each layer provides a dated mixture of water and air bubbles that were trapped in the snow, Thomas L. Friedman writes in the New York Times . More »

More about:  climate change • global warming • research • scientific research • Thomas Friedman • Greenland • polar ice caps • Arctic Circle

 Huge Chunk
 Snaps Off Largest
 Arctic Ice Shelf

Arctic's biggest ice shelf is falling apart and not regenerating

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

More about:  global warming • Canada • Arctic • polar ice caps • Canadian Arctic • Arctic Sea • ice shelf

 Polar Meltdown
 Threatened
 This Summer 

North Pole may be ice free for the first time in human history

Independent (UK) Independent (UK) Jun 27, 08 6:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - The North Pole may become free of ice this summer for the first time in human history. Thick Arctic sea ice that normally covers the polar region has been replaced by ice that formed only in the last year and is susceptible to seasonal melting, reports the Independent. It's a disturbing, symbolic landmark in global warming, scientists warn. More »

 Gore's New Hard
 Truth: Nothing
 Is Changing 

Climate change too low on priority list: Gore

Sun (UK) Sun (UK) Apr 21, 08 3:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - Despite the impact of his movie, An Inconvenient Truth , the success of Live Earth concerts and news stories about melting ice caps, little has changed and action is needed more urgently than ever to stem global warming, Al Gore tells the Sun . The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president believes it's up to voters to demand their governments enact new legislation. More »

More about:  climate change • global warming • Al Gore • Oscar • recycling • Nobel Peace Prize • Kyoto Protocol • polar ice caps • An Inconvenient Truth • Live Earth

 Old Arctic Ice Melting Away 

Formations older than 1 year see heavy declines

Reuters Reuters Mar 18, 08 7:22 PM CDT
(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 »

More about:  climate change • global warming • Arctic • polar ice caps • Arctic Sea • Arctic Circle

Island Paradise Battles Global Warming

Republic of Maldives sounds alarm about rising sea levels

NPR NPR Jan 28, 08 4:18 PM CST
(Newser) - The Republic of Maldives has a lot to fear from rising sea levels, but the chain of tiny islands in the Indian Ocean is doing something to protect itself. The nation has built a concrete wall around the capital, Male, and constructed an entirely new island 7 feet higher than the rest of the country—which the president wants carbon-emitting nations to pay for. NPR pays a visit. More »

More about:  climate change • global warming • tsunami • polar ice caps • Maldives • sea level • Maumoon Abdul Gayoom

Sailors Find Iceless NW Passage

As ice thaws, yachts glide through Northwest Passage

Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal Sep 13, 07 8:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - It's smooth sailing in the Arctic nowadays. Even in recent years, the ice was apt to claim adventurers who dared navigate the Northwest Passage. This year the passage has no ice. And with global warming claiming some 38,000 square miles of ice a year, the Journal reports, the Arctic could be open to commercial and recreational sailing by 2020. More »

More about:  climate change • Arctic • ice melt • Arctic race • polar ice caps • boats • Northwest Passage

Arctic Thaw Set at 40% by 2050

Researchers put 40% of Arctic underwater by 2050

Seattle Times Seattle Times Sep 7, 07 6:47 PM CDT
(Newser) - At least 40% of the polar icecap will be gone by 2050, Seattle scientists predicted today, putting the meltdown way ahead of earlier predictions that so much ice would take a century to vanish. Greenhouse gases, which linger in the atmosphere for up to 50 years, are primarily responsible for the acceleration, the Seattle Times writes. More »

More about:  climate change • global warming • greenhouse gases • Arctic • polar bear • polar ice caps

5 Last-Ditch Plans to Save Earth

Crank up your ingenuity and combat climate change the MacGyver way

Popular Science Aug 22, 07 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - If reducing emissions was Plan A to save the earth from global warming, these plans from Popular Science would be more like Plan ... Z: Make more Arctic ice—out of saltwater. Cool the oceans, which feed storms with warm water, by sucking up cold water from the ocean floor with giant floating tubes. More »

More about:  list • climate change • environment • global warming • conservation • Earth • plastic • glacier • polar ice caps • wetlands

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