Posts Tagged ‘arctic’
Polar sea ice: Down but not out
U. WASHINGTON (US) — Polar sea ice can recover from even the harshest period of climate-induced melting as long as the planet cools again, according to a new study. Continue…
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 10:34 - 1 Comment
Earth & Environment - Aug 1, 2011 10:57 - 0 Comments
Tundra fires may speed climate change
U. FLORIDA (US) — After a 10,000-year absence, wildfires have returned to the Arctic tundra, and new findings raise concerns the fires could accelerate the release of carbon into the atmosphere. (more…)
Top Stories - Mar 8, 2011 11:22 - 0 Comments
Algae spew mucus to alter sea ice
U. WASHINGTON-SEATTLE (US) — The discovery that sea-ice algae release mucus to create microchannels raises questions about the long-term effects on the ice and on animals up the food chain. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Dec 21, 2010 9:05 - 2 Comments
Polar bears’ ice not so thin after all
U. WASHINGTON (US) — The fate of polar bear may not be as grim as previously thought. (more…)
Science & Technology - Dec 14, 2010 20:50 - 0 Comments
Unmanned drones track Arctic seals
U. COLORADO (US) — Cameras mounted on unmanned aircraft flying over the Arctic are doing double duty by assessing declining sea ice and pinpointing seals that have hauled up on ice floes. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Sep 16, 2010 9:35 - 2 Comments
Arctic sea ice continues on downward path
U. COLORADO (US)—The Arctic sea ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent for the year, the third-lowest recorded since satellites began measuring sea ice extent in 1979. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Aug 31, 2010 13:06 - 0 Comments
Gators thrived on swampy Arctic island
U. COLORADO (US)—Ancient alligators and giant tortoises were able to flourish on Ellesmere Island well above the Arctic Circle some 50 million years ago, even as they endured six months of darkness each year. Now scientists think they know why. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Aug 30, 2010 12:54 - 0 Comments
Soot hits Arctic ice with double whammy
STANFORD (US)—The quickest and best way to slow the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice is to reduce soot emissions from the burning of fossil fuel, wood, and dung, according to a new study. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Aug 18, 2010 8:38 - 0 Comments
Glimpse of prehistoric Earth in Arctic rock
McGILL (CAN)—Geochemical evidence from volcanic rocks collected on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic suggests that a region of mantle beneath the Earth’s surface has largely escaped billions of years of melting and geological churning. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Jul 1, 2010 15:00 - 0 Comments
Arctic temps on the rise—faster and further
U. COLORADO (US)—Current levels of the Earth’s atmospheric carbon dioxide may be high enough to bring about significant irreversible shifts in Arctic ecosystems. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Apr 8, 2010 11:12 - 1 Comment
Using Inuit insight to predict Arctic weather
U. COLORADO (US)—Modern science is partnering with indigenous environmental knowledge from the Inuit to learn new things about what’s happening to the Arctic climate. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Apr 7, 2010 9:40 - 0 Comments
Ice sheet melt triggered ancient Big Freeze
U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—The main cause of a rapid global cooling period, known as the Big Freeze or Younger Dryas, that occurred nearly 13,000 years ago was a mega-flood path across North America which channeled melt-water from a giant ice sheet into the oceans triggering the cold snap. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Feb 11, 2010 13:40 - 0 Comments
Arctic snow reveals mercury’s ‘fingerprint’
U. MICHIGAN (US)—Mercury deposited onto Arctic snow from the atmosphere takes on a life of its own as it is picked up by microorganisms that then build up in fish and animals that eat them. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Feb 10, 2010 15:59 - 0 Comments
Climate ‘tipping points’ prove unpredictable
UC DAVIS (US)—Sudden shifts in Earth’s natural systems may be harder to foresee than previously thought, worrying scientists trying to identify dramatic global climate changes before they occur. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Dec 17, 2009 12:27 - 1 Comment
Arctic rivers as climate change forecasters
TEXAS A&M (US)—Scientists may be able to gauge the effects of climate change in the polar regions by monitoring bacterial communities in six large Arctic rivers, new research shows. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Dec 15, 2009 16:39 - 0 Comments
‘Triple whammy’ takes toll on Arctic erosion
U. COLORADO (US)—The combined effect of declining sea ice, warming seawater, and increased wave activity is causing the northern coastline of Alaska to erode by up to one-third the length of a football field each year. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Oct 20, 2009 11:32 - 0 Comments
Arctic cores signal ‘unique’ climate shift
U. COLORADO (US)—An analysis of sediment cores indicates that biological and chemical changes occurring at a remote Arctic lake are unprecedented over the past 200,000 years and likely are the result of human-caused climate change. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Oct 7, 2009 10:52 - 5 Comments
Arctic sea ice’s downward trend continues
U. COLORADO (US)—Despite a slight recovery in 2009—from record-setting low years in 2007 and 2008—the summer Arctic sea ice extent remains significantly below previous years, continuing a trend toward ice-free Arctic summers. (more…)
Earth & Environment - Sep 14, 2009 14:20 - 0 Comments
Arctic heat bucks long-term trend
Since the Earth is still moving away from the sun—it’s about 0.6 million miles farther during the Northern Hemisphere summer solstice than it was in 1 B.C.—it appears greenhouse gases began “overriding” the natural cooling of Earth in the middle of the last century, explains study coauthor Gifford Miller of CU-Boulder’s Institute for Arctic and Alpine Research. “We expect the Arctic will continue to warm in the coming decades, increasing land-based ice loss and triggering global increases in sea-level rise.”
