Newly developed eco-friendly bags to withstand erosion in arctic regions

September 28th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new video of time-lapse photographs has shown that the sea is eating away at Alaska's northern coast with alarming speed. According to a report in National Geographic News, scientists say that although the Beaufort Sea coastline has been receding for millennia, a marked increase in the rate of erosion over the last century is a concern.

September 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.

September 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.

September 17th, 2009 Arctic sea ice melt still heavy, but no recordWASHINGTON — The summer melt of Arctic sea ice wasn't quite as bad this year as the last two years. But it still ranked as the third biggest melt on record.

September 3rd, 2009 Arctic reverses trend, is warmest in two millenniaWASHINGTON — The Arctic is warmer than it's been in 2,000 years, even though it should be cooling because of changes in the Earth's orbit that cause the region to get less direct sunlight. Indeed, the Arctic had been cooling for nearly two millennia before reversing course in the last century and starting to warm as human activities added greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

August 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - With the help of GPS measurements, scientists have located soil erosion pathways and thereby identify placement of grassed waterways to reduce soil erosion. Grassed waterways are placed in agricultural fields where runoff water tends to concentrate because they can substantially reduce soil erosion.

August 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.

July 9th, 2009 LONDON - In a new study, scientists have said that as global warming removes the Arctic's icy lid, the region is expected to teem with life by the year 2030. According to a report in New Scientist, the study of what the Arctic looked like just before dinosaurs were wiped off the planet has provided a glimpse of what could be to come within decades.

July 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.

July 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - An analysis by scientists has suggested that the Arctic was an enclosed freshwater lake until about 38 million years ago, when tectonic activity caused it to undergo a transition to an ocean. Recent studies have suggested that beginning about 44 million years ago the Arctic underwent a transition from lake to ocean conditions.

July 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study by scientists has shown a dramatic increase in the amount of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean. Fresh water flowing into or out of the Arctic Ocean plays an important role in ocean circulation and may be a factor in the response of the world ocean to climate change.

June 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have developed a new cleaning protocol for space hardware, such as the scoops of Mars rovers, which could be used on future "Search for Life" missions on other planets. The new protocol was developed as part of a project to investigate life that exists in extreme Arctic environments, which are the closest analogue we have on Earth to the surface of Mars.

May 19th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that sediments deposited in the ocean by major Arctic rivers may hold clues to understand how Earth's climate will change in the next few decades. The study was carried out by geoscientists at The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A and M University, US.

May 4th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, researchers in Canada are reporting for the first time that high mercury levels in certain Arctic seals appear to be linked to vanishing sea ice caused by global warming. The study, by scientist Gary Stern and his colleagues, provides a new insight into the impact of climate change on Arctic marine life.

April 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Aerosols are possibly behind much of the atmospheric warming in the Arctic since 1976, according to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists. Emitted by natural and human sources, tiny airborne particles called aerosols can directly influence climate by reflecting or absorbing the sun's radiation.