Proving that scientists are a resourceful bunch, researchers from the University of Washington and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources tagged 14 narwhals in Baffin Bay with satellite-linked time-depth-temperature recorders to monitor ocean temperature in a previously little-studied region. The thermometers recorded data over the course of three winters from 2005-2007, and the results of […]
“How I Ended This Summer,” a Russian film depicting the isolation of two men who work at a remote meteorological station in the Arctic, has won the award for Best Film at this year’s 54th annual London Film Festival. Jury chair Patricia Clarkson remarked of the director, “Alexei Popogrebsky has combined stunning cinematography with painterly […]
A new study published in the journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics has found that a large increase in Arctic shipping could exacerbate global warming by 17% to 78%. The range is so wide because of the uncertain future of shipping in the High North, which depends on changes in vessel traffic, growth, and shipping […]
Aboard a Lockheed C-130 Hercules on a flight to the Arctic, the Associated Press interviewed Coast Guard Rear Admiral Christopher C. Colvin, Commander of Coast Guard District Seventeen based in Juneau. He is charged with covering all of Alaska’s coastline, which is longer than the coastline of the rest of the 49 states combined. As […]
This week, the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Institute is hosting a NATO Advanced Research Workshop entitled “Environmental Security in the Arctic Ocean.” During the workshop, delegates from the NATO countries and Russia, among a number of other participants, will meet to discuss challenges in the Arctic. Policymakers, academics, and non-profit representatives will be in […]
On September 17, the Canadian Ice Service began tracking the 280-square kilometer ice island which fractured off of Petermann Glacier in western Greenland in early August, the Montreal Gazette reports. The ice floe, or more technically, the large tabular (meaning flat-topped) iceberg, split into two after ramming into Joe Island, where the Petermann Fjord meets […]
On RIA Novosti’s talk show “Russian Angle,” host Andrei Zolotov recently interviewed Viktor Boyarski, Chairman of the Russian Geographic Society’s Polar Committee. The two discussed the International Arctic Forum on the Arctic, which took place in Moscow from September 22-23. The five-minute video can be seen online here. While Russian news in English is ostensibly […]
The International Arctic Forum took place in Moscow, Russia last week. Hosted by the Russian Geographical Society at Moscow State University, the conference was initially supposed to take place in April until the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull disrupted air travel. Entitled “The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue,” the two-day conference was home to a number of discussions […]
There are several big headlines about Arctic geopolitics this week concerning four of the Big Five: Norway, Russia, Canada, and the U.S. “Norway, Russia reach deal to turn down heat on Arctic claims,” The Montreal Gazette. Norway and Russia have finally concluded a process that began last April to officially delimit the maritime border between […]
On September 4, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes wrapped up a three-day trip to Alaska. The two officials met with locals, Inupiat Eskimos, and representatives from the oil industry to discuss both oil drilling and environmental conservation on the North Slope and in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. […]
Foreign Policy magazine has an interesting article by Lawson Brigham, who I recently wrote about in my blog after his visit to UCLA. It’s entitled, “The Arctic: Everyone wants a piece of the thawing far north. But that doesn’t mean anarchy will reign at the top of the world.” In the article, Brigham contends with […]
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has embarked on his second-annual tour of his country’s Arctic region. He began his five-day trip in Churchill, Manitoba, located on Hudson Bay. Here in this small town, Harper announced a new CAN $13.4 million in funding for upgrades to the ramps, taxis, and runways of the local airport. In […]
NASA’s remote sensing instrument, ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), has taken a remotely sensed image of the massive chunk of ice which calved off of the Petermann Glacier in western Greenland on August 5. ASTER is a high-resolution sensor on board the Terra satellite which scans the entire surface of the earth […]
Last week, a massive iceberg four times the size of Manhattan broke off of the Petermann Glacier in West Greenland. It is the largest chunk of ice to calve from the glacier since 1962. It is now floating down the Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada. To give a better idea of the sheer volume […]
The Globe & Mail has an interesting editorial on the Parks Canada expedition to find the wreckages of three lost ships in the Northwest Passage, which I wrote about last week. The expedition has already discovered the HMS Expedition shipwreck, which had been missing for 150 years. The editorial quotes Environment Minister Jim Prentice, who […]