Study Shows A Future In Trans-Arctic Shipping
This shift could dramatically increase trans-Arctic commerce during at least a few weeks out of the year, even opening up temporary “supra-polar” routes along which moderately ice-strengthened ships could sail directly over the North Pole, slashing days off the travel time between Europe and the Far East.… Read More
Ice Bubbles May Solve Carbon-Temperature Paradox
Climate scientists have shown over and over that when there’s more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, global temperatures are higher. When there’s less, they’re lower. But when they look in more detail, they see something odd. Ancient records locked in the ice covering Antarctica and Greenland seem to show that CO2 starts to rise hundreds of years … Read More
NOAA to Map Alaska’s Increasingly Ice-Free Arctic Waters
And as sea ice recedes, said NOAA Coast Survey director Rear Admiral Gerd Glang in a press release, “vessel traffic is on the rise.” The world as a whole is warming due to heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions, but the Arctic is warming faster than average thanks to something called “Arctic Amplification."… Read More
Ice Melt Means Uneven Sea Level Rise Around the World
Scientists say the sea level rise caused by climate change during the rest of this century will not affect all parts of the world equally, because of the ways sea, land and ice interact. They say parts of the Pacific are likely to see the highest rise. This region is where many low-lying island countries most vulnerable to sea level rise, like the … Read More
Nearing a Tipping Point on Melting Permafrost?
Nearly a quarter of the Northern Hemisphere’s land surface is covered in permanently frozen soil, or permafrost, which is filled with carbon-rich plant debris — enough to double the amount of heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere if the permafrost all melted and the organic matter decomposed. According to a paper published Thursday in Science, … Read More
Snow-loving Wolverines Threatened by Climate Change
When 18th century zoologists gave the largest land-dwelling member of the weasel family the scientific name Gulo gulo — which translates, not so roughly, to gluttonous glutton — they were foreshadowing what would be mankind’s rather one-dimensional view of the creature we now know as the wolverine. The black-and-white, 30-pound, bushy-tailed … Read More
Thinning Ice Is Turning Arctic into an Algae Hotspot
Shrinking, thinning Arctic sea ice appears to be accelerating the growth of algae in polar waters, a new study finds, a development that could alter the region’s ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Scientists cruising central Arctic waters last summer aboard the research ship Polarstern were stunned to discover dense, shaggy deposits of… Read More
Exhibition Turns Climate Data into Artistic Experience
The Compton-Goethals Art Gallery at The City College of New York is ordinarily devoted to the kind of exhibitions you might expect — photography shows, or displays of painting, or sculpture, or even something more contemporary, like a video installation. But it’s clear from you moment you walk into the gallery that the show on display for the … Read More
