'Within decade, Arctic Ocean will be ice-free each summer'October 15th, 2009 LONDON - The ice cover over the Arctic Ocean is continuing to get thinner, according to new data released here Thursday, which supports the theory that due to global warming the ocean will be largely ice-free in summer within a decade. The Catlin Arctic Survey, completed earlier this year, provides the latest ice thickness record.
Arctic could be ice-free in as little as ten years' timeOctober 15th, 2009 LONDON - A top Polar specialist has warned that the Arctic Ocean could be largely ice-free and open to shipping during the summer in as little as ten years' time. "It's like man is taking the lid off the northern part of the planet," Professor Peter Wadhams, from the University of Cambridge, told BBC News.
Arctic area, oceans lock up fourth of world's carbon dioxideOctober 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Arctic land and seas lock up as much as a fourth of the world's carbon dioxide, so the melting of Arctic ice can potentially alter climate, says a new study. Current levels of global warming could diminish or reverse this vast Arctic sink -- one of the world's biggest -- possibly upsetting expected rates of climate change.
Arctic lands and oceans account for 25 percent of world's net sink of CO2October 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, ecologists estimate that Arctic lands and oceans are responsible for up to 25 percent of the global net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). In their review paper, David McGuire of the US Geological Survey and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks and his colleagues show that the Arctic has been a carbon sink since the end of the last Ice Age, which over time has accounted for between zero and 25 percent, or up to about 800 million metric tons, of the global carbon sink.
British explorers say within a decade North Pole summers will be virtually ice freeOctober 14th, 2009 Explorers: North Pole summers ice free in 10 yearsLONDON — The North Pole will turn into an open sea during summer within a decade, according to data released Wednesday by a team of explorers who trekked through the Arctic for three months
The Catlin Arctic Survey team, led by explorer Pen Hadow, measured the thickness of the ice as it sledged and hiked through the northern part of the Beaufort Sea in the north Pole earlier this year during a research project. Their findings show that most of the ice in the region is first-year ice that is only around 1.8 meters (six feet) deep and will melt next summer.
Arctic ice to last until 2030 to 2040September 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - New findings by scientists indicate that that Arctic ice would last decades longer than thought, and the region won't experience ice-free summers until 2030 or 2040. Some models had previously predicted that the Arctic could be ice free in summer by as soon as 2013, due to rising temperatures from global warming.
Arctic sea ice cover reaches minimum extent for 2009September 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has found that the Arctic sea ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent for this year, the third-lowest recorded since satellites began measuring sea ice extent in 1979. The study was carried out by researchers from to the University of Colorado at Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center.
Global warming may make the Arctic of today a thing of the pastSeptember 11th, 2009 WASHINGTON - If a new research is anything to go by, then the Arctic as we know it may soon be a thing of the past, with global warming causing dramatic biological responses in the region. The research was led by Eric Post, associate professor of biology at Penn State University, along with a large, international team that carried out ecosystem-wide studies of the biological response to Arctic warming during the fourth International Polar Year, which ended in 2008.
Heating of Arctic current contributes to global warmingAugust 16th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have found that the warming of the northward-flowing West Spitsbergen current in the Arctic over the last thirty years has contributed to global warming by triggering the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from methane hydrate stored in the sediment beneath the seabed. Methane hydrate is an ice-like substance composed of water and methane, which is stable in conditions of high pressure and low temperature.
Arctic Ocean may turn into 'polluted soup' by 2070August 7th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A climate model has predicted that global warming, combined with nuclear waste, may make the Arctic Ocean a polluted soup by the year 2070. According to a report in New Scientist, Ola Johannessen, director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Bergen, Norway, and his colleagues, developed the model.
NASA spacecraft reveals dramatic thinning of Arctic sea iceJuly 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Data from a NASA Earth-orbiting spacecraft has revealed a dramatic thinning of Arctic sea ice between the winters of 2004 and 2008, with thin seasonal ice replacing thick older ice as the dominant type for the first time on record. The new results provide further evidence for the rapid, ongoing transformation of the Arctic's ice cover.
Climate change claims 300,000 lives a year: ReportMay 29th, 2009 LONDON - Rising temperatures due to climate change already account for some 300,000 deaths a year around the world and could rise to half a million casualties by the year 2030, estimates published Friday showed. A report on the human impact of climate change, presented by the Global Humanitarian Forum in London Friday, put the current estimated costs of global warming at $125 billion a year.
Agricultural burning, forest fires impact Arctic meltingMay 27th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Large-scale agricultural burning in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, US, Canada and Ukraine is having a much greater impact on the melting of Arctic ice than previously suspected, according to latest research. A singular threat is springtime burning to remove crop residues for new planting or clear brush for grazing - because the black carbon or soot produced by the fires can lead to accelerated melting of snow and ice.
Gruelling Arctic mission to study impacts of global warming endsMay 14th, 2009 LONDON - The Catlin Arctic Survey, a gruelling 10-week expedition to measure the thickness of sea-ice that will help study the impacts of global warming in the region, has ended. According to a report by BBC News, two planes landed safely on May 13 on the floating Arctic ice to collect researchers Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley.
Global warming maybe poisoning food for Arctic peopleApril 18th, 2009 LONDON - In a new research, a team of scientists has found that global warming is not just transforming the land for the Arctic people, but it is also poisoning their food, with mercury levels in seals and beluga whales reaching levels that would be considered unsafe in fish. According to a report in New Scientist, Gary Stern of Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and colleagues did the research.
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