Originally published on EdenKeeper.org Retreating onto the uncharted territory of today’s “climate refugees,” the entire indigenous community of Shishmaref, Alaska, is losing the land under its feet. Shishmaref has a population of around 600 members of the Native American Inupiat Tribe, located on Sarichef, a tiny island north of the Bering Strait. For over 400
Originally published on EdenKeeper.org Navigating through the icy waters of the Arctic, the Greenpeace ship “Arctic Sunrise” is delivering solar panels to the Inuit community of Clyde River, Nunavut. Delivering solar panels and a team to install the systems for the Clyde River community is Greenpeace’s way of offering a better solution to meet increasing
In the never-ending non-contest between climate change deniers and climate scientists, there is plenty of gloating to go around. Tossing down the gauntlet once again, Peter Sinclair challenges Joe Bastardi, the King of Climate Change Deniers, to a six-year review of Bastardi’s 2010 prediction on Arctic sea ice behavior. Award-winning climate writer and videographer Sinclair
Reprinted from our sister publication, CleanTechnica. Not upstaging, but as an important adjunct to the UN’s ADP negotiations that started today in Bonn, Germany, the one-day Conference on Global Leadership in the Arctic: Cooperation, Innovation, Engagement and Resilience took place in Anchorage, Alaska. Otherwise known as the GLACIER summit, the talks proceeded on two parallel
OCO-2 is only a little thing, about 6 ft long, 3 ft in diameter, and less than half a ton in weight (NASA/JPL-Caltech, artist’s conception). It will be harder to deny the existence of climate change now that NASA has successfully launched Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2. A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air
A panel of extraordinary military leaders—16 men and women generals and admirals, including prior commanders, commandants, and members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—came to a pretty devastating conclusion recently about climate strategy. The Military Advisory Board of the Center for Naval Analyses, a 70-year-old federally funded think tank, says that current actions by the
By now, many of us have heard that the President spent a little time this morning at a Wal-Mart store in in Mountain View, California, near San Jose. Solar deployment and energy efficiency were the two main thrusts of his speech. He spoke about more than 300 recent private and public sector commitments to create
Message from the past found under an Arctic cairn. (Photo from Denis Sarrazin, CEN/ArcticNet.) In 1959, an astute 27-year-old geologist from Ohio State named Paul Walker left a message in a bottle near the foot of an Arctic glacier. At the time, he was living in temperatures that average -18 C., 500 miles (800 km)
Research has found that approximately 99% of our planet’s land-locked ice is held up in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. The remainder, however, is out in the open, located primarily in the glaciers dotted throughout the appropriate latitudes across the planet. And according to new research, those glaciers contributed approximately the same amount of
Sea ice has been in a decline recently, and that is very bad news for polar bears. They conduct much of their lives on sea ice, including locating mates and reproducing. ‘Sea ice extent averaged for the month of April 2013 was 14.37 million square kilometers (5.54 million square miles). This is 630,000 square kilometers
“I am going out on this broken fin, and I assume it won’t collapse” — so says James Balog as he slides over to the edge of an endless cliff of ice that would make many feel faint simply to observe. Balog is nothing if not obsessive — however, brilliantly so. Needing his third knee
The loss of ozone over Antarctica in the southern hemisphere is relatively well documented and popularly known, especially within Australia where for residents of southern states (like the island state of Tasmania) venturing out into the sun during summer is downright dangerous. Simply put, conditions in the Arctic — on the other side of the
All of the sudden people said, “Wait a minute, this is not how we have to live.” …Call us Peace, We’re about peace… Paul Watson on a wide screen is sweet looking, kind of like a baby as a young man, thinner with dark curly hair framing his doe-eyed face as he stands in life-threatening
Climate changes poses a problem for many species of animal on our planet. As environments shift, animals will need to follow their preferred climate. New research points out that the current rate of climate change up until 2080 will actually benefit most mammals that currently live in northern Europe’s Arctic and sub-Arctic land areas, but
The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation has released it’s provisional annual statement on the state of the global climate and it shows that, if things keep going as they have for the first 10 months of the year, 2012 will join the ranks of warmest years on record that have been filled by the years 2001
Scientists discover just why it is Antarctic sea-ice cover has been increasing while the Arctic sea-ice cover has been so dramatically decreasing.
Never let it be said that planet Earth made life easy for its scientists. A new NASA study has shown that, while the Arctic has been losing ice each summer, Antarctica has been gaining ice. “There’s been an overall increase in the sea ice cover in the Antarctic, which is the opposite of what
Geoengineering has been a hot topic over the past little while and into this mix has come a new study looking at the possibility of using solar geoengineering to counter the loss of Arctic sea ice by tailoring geoengineering by region and by need. A team of leading researchers developed a new computer model
People are accustomed to equalize terms of “global warming” and “climate change,” but in fact they are pretty much distinctive. Global warming is one of the reflections of climate change, which might be compared to glaciers’ meltdown, natural disasters, and overwhelming precipitations. Certainly, they follow the global process of climate change, which results in major influence
Dear Ms. Rimel, I am an independent writer with an interest in environmental issues. I am a father, and an informed citizen. The credentials I hold as a writer and citizen are no less important than those of yours, which, I presume, may be bred from similar motivation: intellectual curiosity and, mostly, a committed
Shell Oil has had its eyes on the Arctic for over five years now. Hundreds of meetings and billions of dollars later, this summer was supposed to be Shell’s year to finally drill in the Arctic Ocean. Thankfully, a series of embarrassing safety setbacks have held Shell back. The announcement that the company would
This is a guest post by Dan Ritzman, Senior Campaign Representative for the Sierra Club. “We recognize that industry’s license to operate in the offshore is predicated on being able to operate in a safe, environmentally sound manner. Shell’s commitment to those basic principles is unwavering. Our Alaska Exploration Plans and Oil Spill Response Plans
Big Oil continues its assault on the Arctic by pushing for increasing oil drilling. This time it’s the Western Arctic that’s particularly at risk. Next week, House Republicans are expected to unveil a legislative package that once again calls for drilling everywhere, regardless of the risks and impacts to the climate, and to our
Scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have concluded a study to measure levels of carbon at various levels in the Arctic Ocean, providing a baseline for further understanding. The study was recently published in the journal Biogeosciences. It provides data that will help researchers in the future as they try to better
Ari Jokimäki recently published one of his regular roundups of climate science research news. Since you probably haven’t seen many (or any) of these stories in the mainstream media, I’m reposting the roundup here in full. The post is from AGW Observer (via Skeptical Science). Enjoy! by Ari Jokimäki Wouldn’t it be nice to
Here’s one more huge repost of the day. This one comes from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology via (Climate Progress). Quick summary? Humans are warming the Earth. Yeah, we knew that, but scientists have just added the 10,000th piece of evidence (figuratively speaking) with a study on Arctic sea ice loss. Here’s more in
A new report has shown that the Arctic Ocean could be a significant contributor of methane to the atmosphere. The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, looked at airborne observations of methane to determine how much of the greenhouse gas was being expelled from the Arctic Ocean, up to latitudes of 82° north. “We
In the past few weeks, polar bears have been showing up with a loss of fur and skin lesions in the southern Beaufort Sea region of Alaska. The causes are currently unknown, but they don’t appear to have any other health problems. USGS scientists have taken tissue and blood samples from the bears to
This month marks the 23rd anniversary of the disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. When the Valdez ran aground, more than 11 million gallons of oil gushed out into the fragile eco-system of the sound and onto the nearby beaches. The oil covered 1,300 miles of coastline and 11,000 square miles
The Arctic is not looking good. It’s got a fever and may not live through it. As the NASA press release below notes, “the oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice is disappearing at a faster rate than the younger and thinner ice at the edges of the Arctic Ocean’s floating ice cap.” This is no
Over the past half-decade the American population’s understanding of the facts about polar regions have increased, sadly, their concern or those same regions have stayed the same. These are the findings of the first comparative analysis conducted by Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, in conjunction with the National Science Foundation, on science
Via DailyKos, here’s the “official meme of 2011“: Seems spot on to me. We certainly covered the Japan nuclear meltdowns, Arctic ice cap meltdown, and multiple (Republican-driven) Congressional meltdowns repeatedly here on Planetsave. Though, decided that the Charlie Sheen and other meltdowns were outside our jurisdiction, somewhat thankfully. What will 2012 bring?
Oh, the wonderful nature lovers of the Republican party…. Going right back to the ideology that caused the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, “House Republicans are trying to sideline the role of the Environmental Protection Agency in overseeing offshore oil drilling, after Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA, RDSA.LN) complained about the
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US the globe experienced its 12th warmest November since record keeping began back in 1880. On top of this, Arctic sea ice extent was the third smallest on record at 11.5 percent below average, and La Niña conditions continued throughout the month and is expected
Climate change is the largest threat that our natural heritage has ever faced. We must now actively work to create resilient habitats where plants, animals, and people are able to survive and thrive on a warmer planet. To fully protect wildlife and wild places for future generations to experience and enjoy, we need to expand
Scientists working with NASA’s Operation IceBridge airborne research campaign started their third year of survey flights and captured this image of the sea ice covering the Weddell Sea.
A new doctoral thesis has shown that industrial chemicals are making their way north to the Arctic from the industrialised world via air and sea currents, where they are then absorbed by the sea’s food chains, of which the polar bear is at the top.
The Obama administration opened up huge areas of Wyoming for coal mining earlier this year. Now, it has also opened up the Arctic to oil drilling.
On September 9 scientists from NASA and the NASA-supported National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado in Boulder showed satellite data that capped summertime sea ice coverage at the second lowest ever recorded since records were first kept. Seen below marked out in yellow is the 30 year average, while the red line represents the opening of the Northwest Passage shipping lane.
Akin to the ozone loss which has been much publicized over Antarctica, the Arctic saw massive ozone losses in 2011 thanks to unusually low temperatures which lingered for a longer than normal time in the stratosphere.
Peter Sinclair’s awesome 2011 Arctic Sea Ice video. Check it out!
In September 2010 Cape Farewell began its 9th Art & Science expedition to the Arctic. For 22 days the crew of 20 voyagers sailed around Svalbard and Spitsbergen on the Noorderlicht(an 100 year old ship), sailing north of the 80th parallel to the ice edge from Spitsbergen and east towards Russia.
This is one of the most adorable videos I’ve seen in a long time. These penguins are so human, so loving, so cute.
Oceana calls on us all to petition the U.S. government to keep oil drilling out of the Arctic. Take action now.
Taken by a member of the ICESCAPE mission on board the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy as it steamed its way south in the Arctic Ocean towards the edge of the sea ice on July 20.
Check out these top action opportunities of the week!
As reported yesterday the University of Colorado at Boulder’s National Snow and Ice Data Center announced that the Arctic sea ice minimum extent would come in as second lowest since recording began back in 1979. Now, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has provided their own series of images and videos to back up that report, showing the extent of Arctic sea ice for September 9, 2011.
The American National Snow and Ice Data Center has announced – in a differing view than that put forward by the University of Bremen scientists earlier in the week – that the Arctic sea ice extent has slowed and is nearing its minimum extent.
