Arctic sea ice

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Cleaner Air Causing Sea Ice to Melt Away

Sulfur dioxide actually protected ice from the sun: study

(Newser) - Sulfur dioxide is a bad thing, right? Indeed, it's been linked to acid rain, crop failures, and respiratory problems—but scrubbing it from the atmosphere has also apparently caused Arctic sea ice to melt, the Anchorage Daily News reports. According to a new study from Environment Canada, recent reductions...

Researchers Studying Arctic Ice Feared Drowned

Two Dutch scientists encountered thin ice in an unexpected area

(Newser) - Two Dutch researchers are presumed to be drowned while exploring an area of the Arctic where they expected to find thick ice. Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo were last heard from on Tuesday, when Cornelissen left a jokey voicemail about how it was so warm near Bathurst Island that...

Polar Bears Will Struggle for Food on Land

Study contradicts research that says bears are eating berries, eggs

(Newser) - Polar bears forced off melting sea ice will not find enough food to replace their current diet of fat-laden seals, researchers say in a conclusion that contradicts studies indicating bears may be benefiting from bird eggs, berries, and other land food sources. Karyn Rode, a USGS wildlife biologist and lead...

Planes Rerouted to Prevent Walrus Stampede

FAA warns media, gawkers to stay away, not spook beached animals

(Newser) - Aircraft, media, and curious folks in general have been instructed to stay far away from the 35,000 walruses crammed onto an Alaskan beach to prevent the easily spooked animals from stampeding each other to death, the Guardian reports. "When they lose their sea ice habitat and come ashore...

Why 35K Walruses Crowded Onto This Beach

There's no ice in the Chukchi Sea for them to rest on

(Newser) - What a loss of sea ice looks like: an estimated 35,000 walruses, crowded on one stretch of Alaskan beach. Images taken on Saturday via plane as part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual marine animal survey capture just that. The enormous grouping of the mammals near...

Despite 'Unremarkable' Temps, More Ice Melt Woes

Records set throughout the Arctic

(Newser) - Despite "unremarkable" temperatures across the Arctic over the past year, melting around the region continues to set records, reports LiveScience . Among the findings of the latest Arctic Report Card released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association yesterday (its largest such report since starting them in 2006):
  • Snow coverage
...

Arctic Ice Hits Drastic New Low
 Arctic Ice Hits Drastic New Low 
Sep 20, 2012 2:50 AM CDT

Arctic Ice Hits Drastic New Low

Melt ends with ice 293K square miles below 2007 record

(Newser) - Sea ice in the Arctic shrank to a record low on August 27 —and kept shrinking for 20 days. The sea has finally begun to refreeze after bottoming out on September 16 at 1.32 million square miles, almost 300,000 square miles less than the record set at...

China Muscles In on Race for Piece of Arctic Pie

Beijing increasingly aggressive as stakes get higher

(Newser) - As Arctic ice continues to melt at a disturbing pace , the "Cold War" in the region is heating up. Global superpowers, excited about the oil, gas, minerals, and shipping lanes that are being made newly available thanks to the melting ice, are vying for position in the region—and...

Record Arctic Melt 'Like Doubling CO2'

Oblivion looms for summer sea ice, expert warns

(Newser) - The accelerating loss of Arctic sea ice is having an effect equivalent to doubling the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the problem in the first place, warns one of the world's leading sea ice experts. The ice reflects sunlight, but as it disappears, the energy is absorbed by...

Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks to New Low

And the melt will likely continue another 2 weeks

(Newser) - It's a record that won't likely last very long: The Arctic sea ice cover today hit a record low, announced the National Snow and Ice Data Center, but the shrinking isn't about to stop. The ice cover had reduced to 1.58 million square miles as of...

Arctic Ice Nears Record Melt
 Arctic Ice Nears Record Melt  
Aug 21, 2012 3:16 AM CDT

Arctic Ice Nears Record Melt

It 'just doesn't look like the Arctic Ocean any more'

(Newser) - The amount of sea ice in the Arctic is on course to hit a record low well before the end of melting season, scientists warn. The previous record was set in 2007, but that was a result of a "perfect storm" of conditions, while this year's melt is...

Arctic Ice Nears Historic Low
 Arctic Ice Nears Historic Low 
Sep 7, 2011 6:22 AM CDT

Arctic Ice Nears Historic Low

Ice area last year tied 2007 for lowest since measuring begin in 1979

(Newser) - A set of dubious honors for the volume of ice covering the Arctic: It hit a record low in 2010, according to researchers, breaking the 2007 record—and those same scientists say this year may be a record-breaking one, too, reports the Alaska Dispatch . Since researchers began measuring Arctic ice...

Walruses Short-Changed on Fed Protection

Endangered tuskers 'low on the totem pole'

(Newser) - The Interior Department has decided that walruses are endangered enough to warrant protection—but it's not going to give it to them. The threat to the Pacific walrus from global warming reducing Arctic sea ice is very real, officials say, but limited government resources mean protection will have to wait...

Arctic Melting May Bring New Beast: Polar-Grizzly

Mama grizzly, papa polar means threatened baby

(Newser) - Melting arctic sea ice isn’t just threatening polar bears’ lives—it’s threatening their gene pool. The loss of ice means more contact between polar bears and genetically-similar grizzlies, which means cross-breeding, scientists say. Hunters have shot at least two polar-grizzly crosses since 2006, the Independent reports. Other species...

Melting Ice Forces Thousands of Walruses Ashore

Calves at risk of being trampled as animals squeeze onto Alaska coast

(Newser) - Tens of thousands of walruses have squeezed onto small patches of Alaska's shore because of melting ice floes. Scientists say the loss of sea ice has forced the lumbering creatures into a mass migration to land. The huge number of walruses foraging in a small area makes cubs extremely vulnerable...

Climate Change Reverses 8 Millennia of Arctic Cooling

Temps, up 2.2 F Since 1900, Would Be 2.5 Degrees Cooler Without Greenhouse Gases

(Newser) - Summer temperatures in the Arctic have climbed 2.2°F since 1900 despite an 8,000-year cooling trend, the Guardian reports. For the past few thousand years, the orbit of the Earth and the changing tilt of its axis has put the Arctic 630,000 miles further from the sun...

White House Mulls Drastic Action on Climate Change

Geo-engineering could be last resort, Holdren says

(Newser) - Global warming may get to the point where drastic "geo-engineering" measures to cool the earth will be necessary, President Obama’s top science adviser tells the AP. John Holdren said shooting reflective particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect some sunlight is a last resort, but one he's raised...

Climate Alarmists Are Off Base: George Will

Only one fact debated; 'that challenge was mistaken': Will

(Newser) - George Will set off a flurry of criticism this month with a column that questioned global warming. In his Post column today, he's not backing down, taking particular aim at the New York Times—long “a megaphone for the alarmed.” A Times article by Andrew Revkin asserted that...

Arctic Melt Speeds Up
 Arctic Melt Speeds Up 


Dec 16, 2008 9:27 AM CST

Arctic Melt Speeds Up

Some temps 10 degrees hotter than normal

(Newser) - The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world, scientists have found, in a phenomenon not expected for at least another decade. This fall, temperatures in some areas of the Arctic were as much as 10 degrees warmer than normal thanks to Arctic amplification, which could mean the...

Early Plankton Blooming May Starve Ocean Creatures

Blossoming disrupted by warming water

(Newser) - A vast and colorful explosion of life in the Arctic Sea—the sudden, unprecedented blossoming of phytoplankton prompted by warming waters—could spell death for untold numbers of creatures, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Phytoplankton, a microscopic but vital part of the food chain, is blooming—and swiftly dying—at...

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