Arctic – News Stories About Arctic - Page 9

Coast Guard Sets Up First Base in Warming Arctic

Oct 19, 2007 12:20 PM CDT

Coast Guard Sets Up First Base in Warming Arctic

Plan to respond to oil spills and cruise ship emergencies

(Newser) - The US Coast Guard is setting up a base in the rapidly warming Arctic to help patrol anticipated tanker and cruise-ship traffic in the hot new shipping area, reports the New York Times. Officials have also begun discussions with Russia about controlling expected traffic in the Bering Strait. The base,...

Canada Asserts Arctic Authority

Oct 8, 2007 2:55 PM CDT

Canada Asserts Arctic Authority

Ice melt inflames dispute over control of Northwest Passage

(Newser) - In the wake of this summer's record-shattering Arctic melting, Canada is asserting its control over the Northwest Passage, increasing patrols, and planning to build a military base, the BBC reports. Apparently undeterred by competing claims to the legendary waterway, the head of the Canadian Coast Guard says it's "important...

Record Heatwave Hits Arctic

Oct 3, 2007 8:09 AM CDT

Record Heatwave Hits Arctic

Scientists stunned as temperatures trigger drastic change

(Newser) - Record high temperatures have hit parts of the Arctic, triggering a dramatic melt off of sea ice and tundra, and shocking scientists, reports the Independent. Temperatures as high as 72 degrees fahrenheit (22C) on Melville Island, usually one of the coldest places in North America, melted permafrost and set off...

Arctic Melt Nears 'Tipping Point'

Sep 30, 2007 2:15 PM CDT

Arctic Melt Nears 'Tipping Point'

Bigger, dark sea will melt what's left faster, scientists fear

(Newser) - Arctic ice has shrunk so significantly this past summer that scientists fear the region is at a dangerous "tipping point" that could trigger accelerated melting and dangerous consequences for weather patterns and environments. Ice shrank 20% below 2005’s record low. Scientists theorize that the darker sea holds more...

Tourism Heats Up as Arctic Does

Sep 24, 2007 8:22 AM CDT

Tourism Heats Up as Arctic Does

Travelers flock to see dwindling ice caps, speeding up their destruction

(Newser) - The effects of global warming are drawing a crowd. About 1.5 million people will visit the arctic this year, as climate tourists swarm to see the world’s ice caps as they are beginning to melt. But it’s an ironic endeavor, the Wall Street Journal notes, because eco-tourists...

The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin

Sep 21, 2007 2:33 AM CDT

The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin

Russia claims polar mineral wealth

(Newser) - In the latest audacious claim by Russia, the nation is insisting that rock samples taken 13,000 feet beneath the North Pole prove that a large part of the Arctic seabed is rightfully Russian territory. The US, Canada, Norway and Denmark also have territorial claims to the mineral-rich area that's...

Sailors Find Iceless NW Passage

Sep 13, 2007 8:40 PM CDT

Sailors Find Iceless NW Passage

As ice thaws, yachts glide through Northwest Passage

(Newser) - It's smooth sailing in the Arctic nowadays. Even in recent years, the ice was apt to claim adventurers who dared navigate the Northwest Passage. This year the passage has no ice. And with global warming claiming some 38,000 square miles of ice a year, the Journal reports, the Arctic...

Bad News Plagues Bears

Sep 9, 2007 3:09 PM CDT

Bad News Plagues Bears

As ice caps melt, trophy hunters take aim, polar bears belong on endangered list

(Newser) - It's bad enough when 40% of your habitat will disappear by mid-century, but add trophy hunters taking advantage of a loophole in US law, and it's not a good time to be a polar bear, the Independent on Sunday reports. The bears are not listed as endangered so 950 pelts...

Arctic Thaw Set at 40% by 2050

Sep 7, 2007 6:47 PM CDT

Arctic Thaw Set at 40% by 2050

Researchers put 40% of Arctic underwater by 2050

(Newser) - At least 40% of the polar icecap will be gone by 2050, Seattle scientists predicted today, putting the meltdown way ahead of earlier predictions that so much ice would take a century to vanish. Greenhouse gases, which linger in the atmosphere for up to 50 years, are primarily responsible for...

Massive Ice Island Finds
Itself in a Jam

Sep 2, 2007 9:00 AM CDT

Massive Ice Island Finds Itself in a Jam

Floating danger now safely wedged in canal, scientists hope

(Newser) - An ice island that became a global warming icon when it separated from the Canadian Arctic mainland is now caught in a remote channel—and scientists believe it's stuck there indefinitely. The Ayles Ice Island, born two years ago and slightly larger than Manhattan, had been moving rapidly and was...

Drilling Hits Norway's Conscience

Aug 21, 2007 6:33 PM CDT

Drilling Hits Norway's Conscience

Concern over climate change has stalled Scandinavian nation's government

(Newser) - A friendly little nation is facing the ethics of new economic power, as Norway asks itself whether to drill for 73 billion barrels of Arctic oil or leave it for others to uncover. The tiny country is the world's fifth largest exporter of oil, third largest of gas - and...

As Ice Shrinks, Islands Emerge

Aug 21, 2007 7:44 AM CDT

As Ice Shrinks, Islands Emerge

New, unclaimed territories raise fears of accelerated global warming

(Newser) - The melting of ice in the Arctic Ocean has revealed previously undiscovered islands, one approximately the size of a basketball court. Reuters reports that the formerly submerged islands are unclaimed by any government but lie near Svalbard, the Norwegian territory north of the Arctic Circle. The discoveries raise fears that...

Hurricane Dean Hastens 'Three Amigos' Summit

Aug 21, 2007 6:28 AM CDT

Hurricane Dean Hastens 'Three Amigos' Summit

Bush meets neighbors, Calderon leaves early, protests turn violent

(Newser) - President Bush met with his counterparts from north and south yesterday at a Canadian summit overshadowed by Hurricane Dean and greeted with violent protests. The so-called "Three Amigos" met in a Quebec château ringed by a huge security wall, outside which police used tear gas and rubber bullets...

US Expedition Heads to Arctic

Aug 14, 2007 3:45 AM CDT

US Expedition Heads to Arctic

Expedition joins scramble to lay claim to the Arctic

(Newser) - Diving into the international scramble to grab parts of the Arctic, a US Coast Guard cutter is voyaging north this week to determine if any of the underwater territory can be claimed for America. The four-week expedition, which starts Friday, will use sonar technology to map the northern Chukchi Cap,...

Danes Join Scramble for Arctic

Aug 11, 2007 1:20 PM CDT

Danes Join Scramble for Arctic

Denmark to launch expedition to Arctic to defend territorial claims

(Newser) - A Danish expedition is set to head for the Arctic tomorrow, joining the scramble to claim polar territories. A team of 40 scientists and massive icebreakers are heading north to prove that a 2,000-kilometer underwater mountain range stretching to the pole is an extension of Greenland, and accordingly belongs...

Canada Vows to Defend Pole

Aug 10, 2007 2:56 PM CDT

Canada Vows to Defend Pole

New patrol vessels to venture out as Arctic tensions escalate with Russia

(Newser) - As Russia presses claims to the North Pole, Canada is stepping up its defense of its Arctic territory and will no longer take its sovereignty "too lighty," PM Stephen Harper declared yesterday during an Arctic tour. Canada is building six patrol vessels to guard the icy territory where...

Sub Crew Plants Russian Flag

Aug 2, 2007 4:57 PM CDT

Sub Crew Plants Russian Flag

Expedition reaches North Pole seabed in quest to get jump on turf battle

(Newser) - A Russian expedition reached the North Pole today and symbolically called dibs on the Arctic in the race to secure the oil-rich territory. Explorers sank a titanium Russian flag into what the team leader called the "yellowish mud" of the sea floor 3 miles deep, which a spokesman likened...

Look Out, Santa: Russia Claims North Pole

Aug 1, 2007 12:09 PM CDT

Look Out, Santa: Russia Claims North Pole

Rich oil and gas reserves lie beneath ownership dispute

(Newser) - Russian ships will arrive at the North Pole today as part of Moscow's effort to claim a 1,240-mile area of the Arctic—and with it, more than $2 trillion in oil and gas reserves. The Telegraph reports that the fleet will deposit a Russian flag at the bottom of...

Russians Advance on North Pole

Jul 29, 2007 5:34 PM CDT

Russians Advance on North Pole

With eye on energy-rich seabed, submarines make test dive

(Newser) - In a race to claim rich natural resources under the North Pole, two Russian submarines successfully dove several thousand feet in Russia's northern territorial waters today, Reuters reported. Though US and Russian subs have long plied the waters under the pole, none has reached the seabed there, at a depth...

Russia Stakes Claim to Oil-Rich Arctic Territory

Jun 28, 2007 5:18 AM CDT

Russia Stakes Claim to Oil-Rich Arctic Territory

Kremlin claims underwater shelf links huge chunk to Russia

(Newser) - Russia has claimed a massive, oil-rich chunk of the Arctic, despite international laws that block ownership of the territory. The Kremlin based its move on scientists' insistence that an underwater shelf links Russia to 460,000 square miles of the North Pole, which contains 10 billion tons of oil and...