tagged w/ Arctic Ocean
-
UK scientists have detected a huge dome of freshwater that is developing in the western Arctic Ocean.
The bulge is some 8,000 cubic km in size and has risen by about 15cm since 2002.
The team thinks it may be the result of strong winds whipping up a great clockwise current in the northern polar region called the Beaufort Gyre.
This would force the water together, raising sea surface height, the group tells the journal Nature Geoscience.
[snip]
Of interest to future observations is what might happen if the anticyclonic winds, which have been whipping up the bulge, change behaviour.
"What we seen occurring is precisely what the climate models had predicted," said Dr Giles.
"When you have clockwise rotation - the freshwater is stored. If the wind goes the other way - and that has happened in the past - then the freshwater can be pushed to the margins of the Arctic Ocean.
"If the spin-up starts to spin down, the freshwater could be released. It could go to the rest of the Arctic Ocean or even leave the Arctic Ocean."
If the freshwater were to enter the North Atlantic in large volumes, the concern would be that it might disturb the currents that have such a great influence on European weather patterns. These currents draw warm waters up from the tropics, maintaining milder temperatures in winter than would ordinarily be expected at northern European latitudes.
[snip]
The creation of the Beaufort Gyre bulge is not a continuous development throughout the 15-year data-set, and only becomes a dominant feature in the latter half of the study period.
This may indicate a change in the relationship between the wind and the ocean in the Arctic brought about by the recent rapid decline in sea-ice cover, the CPOM team argues in its Nature Geoscience paper.
It is possible that the wind is now imparting momentum to the water in ways that were not possible when the sea-ice was thicker and more extensive.
"The ice is now much freer to move around," said Dr Giles.
"So, as the wind acts on the ice, it's able to pull the water around with it. Depending on how ridged the surface of ice is or how smooth the bottom of the ice is - this will all affect the drag on the water. If you have more leads, this also might provide more vertical ice surfaces for the wind to blow against."
One consequence of less sea-ice in the region is the possibility that winds could now initiate greater mixing of the different layers in the Arctic Ocean.
Scientists are aware that there is a lot of warm water at depth.
At present, this deep water's energy is unable to influence the sea-ice because of a buffer of colder, less dense water lying between it and the floes above.
But if this warm water were made to well up because of wind-driven changes at the surface, it could further accelerate the loss of seasonal ice cover.
(click on the link for the complete article)UK scientists have detected a huge dome of freshwater that is developing in the... more
-
-
The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a "critical habitat" for polar bears,
Greenspace (Los Angeles Times)
Obama administration moves to protect polar bear
November 24, 2010 | 9:02 pm
The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could restrict future offshore drilling for oil and gas. The total, which includes large areas of sea ice off the Alaska coast, is about 13,000 square miles, or 8.3 million acres, less than in a preliminary plan released last year.
Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department, said the designation would help polar bears stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.
"This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations," Strickland said. "We will continue to work toward comprehensive strategies for the long-term survival of this iconic species."
Designation of crucial habitat does not in itself block economic activity or other development, but requires federal officials to consider whether a proposed action would adversely affect the polar bear's habitat and interfere with its recovery.
Nearly 95% of the designated habitat is sea ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska's northern coast. Polar bears spend most of their lives on frozen ocean where they hunt seals, breed and travel.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell and the state's oil and gas industry had complained that the preliminary plan released last year was too large and dramatically underestimated the potential economic impact. The designation could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity and tax revenue, they said.
Parnell said that the state is pleased that existing man-made structures will be exempted from critical habitat considerations. But, he said in a statement, the state is disappointed it was not consulted on other recommendations. "This additional layer of regulatory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation, but will also slow oil and gas exploration efforts," Parnell said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said reductions included in the final rule were mostly due to corrections that more accurately reflect the U.S. border in the Arctic Ocean. Five U.S. Air Force radar sites were exempted from the final rule, as were Native Alaskan communities in Barrow and Kaktovik, Alaska.
The Interior Department has declared polar bears "threatened," or likely to become endangered, citing a dramatic loss of sea ice. Officials face a Dec. 23 deadline to explain why the bears were listed as threatened instead of the more protective "endangered."
Kassie Siegel, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that has filed a lawsuit to increase protections for the polar bear, hailed the decision. "Now we need the Obama administration to actually make it mean something so we can write the bear's recovery plan — not its obituary," she said. Siegel called for a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in bear habitat areas. "An oil spill there would be a catastrophe," she said. "That seems like an understatement."
The Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which advocates for Alaska native business interests, said in a statement that the decision disproportionately affects Alaska natives and called the designation the "wrong tool" for conserving the polar bear because it does nothing to address climate change.
"The burden of the impacts will be felt by the people of the Arctic Slope," said Tara Sweeney, vice president of external affairs for ASRC, which is based in Barrow, Alaska. "This is a quality-of-life issue for our people."
Kara Moriarty, deputy director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Assn., said the action would hurt oil and gas exploration in Alaska by creating more delays and added costs to projects in what already is a high-cost environment.
"The companies and the industry will be required to go through more permitting and create mitigation measures without a direct benefit to the polar bear or oil and gas development," Moriarty said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service has found over and over again our activities pose no threat to the polar bear."The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a... more
-
-
Arctic species under threat, report warns
By Matthew Knight for CNN
September 14, 2010 2:41 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* New report highlights extinction threat to Arctic wildlife
* Whales, walruses, Arctic foxes, even plankton are all at risk of dying out
* Rapid melting of Arctic ice sheet in recent years means habitats are disrupted or destroyed
* Lead author says reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a must to prevent further losses
London, England (CNN) -- Polar bears clinging to melting ice sheets have become one of the most frequently used images to portray the perils of climate change.
But a new report by the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and UK-based Care for the Wild International (CWI) is bringing attention to the predicament of other equally endangered Arctic species.
Seventeen Arctic animals are highlighted in "Extinction: It's Not Just for Polar Bears."
Shaye Wolf, lead author and climate science director of the CBD told CNN: "The plight of the polar bear due to global warming is very well known and familiar. But many other Arctic species are suffering a similar fate -- from plankton all the way to the great whales."
The impacts of climate change are "unfolding far more rapidly in the Arctic than any other area on the planet" threatening its ecosystem, the report said.
A 2009 study by Donald K. Perovich and Jacqueline A Richter-Menge -- "Loss of Sea Ice in the Arctic" -- reported that the sea ice extent in 2007 was one million square miles below the average figure recorded between 1979 and 2000.
This, and other data suggests, say scientists, that summer sea ice could completely disappear in the Arctic by 2030.
The ice retreat is already spelling trouble for marine mammals like the Pacific walrus and the harp seal.
Pacific walruses, like many of the mammals in the report, are sea ice dependent says Wolf, with many having already suffering population declines.
"As we speak, there are 10 to 20,000 walruses holed up on Alaskan Arctic coastline. And that is attributable to sea ice loss," Wolf says.
"Walruses need sea ice for resting because they can't swim continuously. When they lose that sea ice, especially moms and calves, they are forced to come to shore -- where calves are very vulnerable to be trampled in stampedes."
Last year, Wolf says the stampede claimed 131 young walruses.
The number was even higher off the Russian coast in 2007 where several thousand calves died when around 40,000 walruses were pushed ashore.
Ocean acidification -- caused by increased uptake of carbon dioxide -- is happening more quickly in the Arctic than in warmer waters, says Wolf.
Shell-building marine creatures like the sea butterfly (Clione limacina) are particularly vulnerable to acidification.
Their loss would be potentially devastating for other species.
On land, the Arctic fox -- found on the southern edges of the Arctic tundra -- is facing "myriad threats from climate change," including shrinking sea ice and tundra, declines in lemming prey and increased competition from the larger, more dominant red fox -- which is edging north as temperatures rise.
All the animals in the report are at risk of extinction due to climate change says Wolf.
"What is going on in the Arctic isn't something that we can consider completely remote from ourselves. Actually, it's a fantastic barometer of what is going to happen in the rest of the world," CWI's Rebecca Taylor told CNN.
"The Arctic is ground zero for climate change and we're already pushing many species towards extinction. The key to preventing their loss is reducing our greenhouse gas emissions -- specifically carbon dioxide -- to a level of 350ppm or below. That is a level many leading scientists have called for to restore Arctic sea ice," Wolf said.Arctic species under threat, report warns
By Matthew Knight for CNN
September 14,... more
-
-
Canada aids cruise ship stuck in the Arctic Ocean
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 29, 2010 10:39 p.m. EDT
The crew of the Clipper Adventurer was unable to dislodge it during high tide.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* The Canadian coast guard is ferrying passengers from the ship
* The are being taken to a small town on the shore of the Arctic Ocean
* Some 128 passengers and roughly 69 crew members are thought to be on board
* The ship ran aground an unmapped rock on Friday
(CNN) -- The Canadian coast guard began ferrying passengers on Sunday from a cruise ship that ran aground an unmapped rock.
Officials aboard the Clipper Adventurer reported their troubles on Friday. The crew failed to dislodge the ship during high tide on Saturday, while Sunday, a coast guard icebreaker arrived to transport the people on board to land.
No one of the estimated 128 passengers and 69 crew members were hurt or injured, said Theresa Nichols, a spokeswoman with the Canadian coast guard.
"They are in the midst of completing the operation of ferrying the passengers off," she said. "That operation should be just about finished."
The passengers are being taken to Kugluktuk, a small town on the shore of the Arctic Ocean, where accommodations have been arranged by the cruise ship company, said Nichols. They are then expected to fly to the Canadian city of Edmonton.
The grounded vessel is stable, but rests with a slight list, according to the company that operates the cruise ship, Adventure Canada.
"Weather remains favourable as passengers continue to enjoy onboard programming and hospitality," the company said in a statement.Canada aids cruise ship stuck in the Arctic Ocean
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 29,... more
-
-
100-square-mile ice sheet breaks off Arctic glacier
Massive ice island breaks off Greenland
August 7, 2010 9:43 a.m. EDT
Greenland's Petermann Glacier in 2009. Researchers say a quarter of the ice shelf has broken away.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* 260 square-kilometer Ice island is biggest since 1962, researchers say
* Ice broke away from Petermann glacier early on Thursday
* Ice island could block Nares Strait which separates Canada, Greenland
* Environmentalists say Arctic ice melt caused by global warming
(CNN) -- A piece of ice four times the size of Manhattan island has broken away from an ice shelf in Greenland, according to scientists in the U.S.
The 260 square-kilometer (100 square miles) ice island separated from the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland early on Thursday, researchers based at the University of Delaware said.
The ice island, which is about half the height of the Empire State Building, is the biggest piece of ice to break away from the Arctic icecap since 1962 and amounts to a quarter of the Petermann 70-kilometer floating ice shelf, according to research leader Andreas Muenchow.
"The freshwater stored in this ice island could keep the Delaware or Hudson rivers flowing for more than two years. It could also keep all U.S. public tap water flowing for 120 days," Muenchow said.
Muenchow's team is studying ice in the Nares Strait separating Greenland from Canada, about 1,000 kilometers south of the North Pole.
Satellite data from NASA's MODIS-Aqua satellite revealed the initial rupture which was confirmed within hours by Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service, according to the University of Delaware website.
Muenchow said the island could block the Nares Strait as it drifts south, or break into smaller islands and continue towards the open waters of the Atlantic.
"In Nares Strait, the ice island will encounter real islands that are all much smaller in size," he said.
"The newly born ice island may become land-fast, block the channel, or it may break into smaller pieces as it is propelled south by the prevailing ocean currents. From there, it will likely follow along the coasts of Baffin Island and Labrador, to reach the Atlantic within the next two years."
Environmentalists say ice melt is being caused by global warming with Arctic temperatures in the 1990s reaching their warmest level of any decade in at least 2,000 years, according to a study published in 2009.
Current trends could see the Arctic Ocean become ice free in summer months within decades, researchers predict.100-square-mile ice sheet breaks off Arctic glacier
Massive ice island breaks off... more
-
-
Shell Oil is ready to drill in the Arctic Ocean this summer and asked a federal appeals court Thursday to rule quickly on a challenge by environmentalists concerned about the risk of a major spill after the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
Kathleen Sullivan, an attorney for Shell, said the company has spent at least $3.5 billion on Alaska operations in the past few years as it prepares for exploratory drilling set for July in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
"Shell has waited years to recover its investment," Sullivan told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland. "We're ready to go."
"I'm sure Shell would like to win," replied Chief Judge Alex Kozinski.
But a coalition of environmentalists and Native Alaska groups who are challenging the drilling plans told the court the federal Minerals Management Service failed to consider the potential threat to wildlife and the risk for disaster before it approved the Shell project.
Christopher Winter, an attorney for the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, said the Interior Department agency "simply ignored key aspects" about the possible effects of drilling operations on bowhead whales, including interruption of feeding patterns.
David Shilton, a Justice Department lawyer representing the minerals service, responded by saying studies have shown noise from drilling has only a "temporary and minor" effect on the whales, whose population is healthy and has been increasing.
Deirdre McDonnell, the attorney for the Native Village of Point Hope in Alaska, the lead petitioners in the case, argued that Shell had not made adequate plans to deal with an emergency, such as a major spill.
The Shell plan, for example, "doesn't say what happens if the drill ship is disabled or has sunk," McDonnell told the judges.
She also said government did not consider the cumulative impact of drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
Sullivan argued, however, the government must consider the facts at hand rather than "speculative" future impact and Shell has made extensive plans that include dealing with "the remote and infinitesimal likelihood of a spill."
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced last December the Minerals Management Service had conditionally approved plans by Shell to drill three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea, saying environmentally responsible exploration is a key component of reducing dependence on foreign oil.
Conditional approval for exploration in the Beaufort Sea came last October, as part of the development of oil leases sold under the Bush administration and upheld by the Obama administration in March.Shell Oil is ready to drill in the Arctic Ocean this summer and asked a federal... more
-
-
-
-
The frozen Arctic Ocean will become an open sea during the summer within a decade, according to the latest data.The frozen Arctic Ocean will become an open sea during the summer within a decade,... more
-
-
For thousands of years, the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean have nurtured irreplaceable species including polar bears, whales and seals, and a unique human culture. But in the next few weeks, the Obama administration will make a series of crucial decisions that could determine whether America's Arctic will survive and thrive or be sacrificed to destructive and dangerous oil and gas drilling.
At stake are the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas--the Polar Bear Seas, home to 1 in 5 of the world's already diminished polar bear populations--as well as the rich fishing grounds of Bristol Bay. During the last eight years, the oil and gas industry and the Bush administration pushed hard to open these fragile waters to industrial-scale oil and gas exploration and drilling.
The rush to drill ignored the fact that the Arctic is probably the least-understood region on Earth and that the most basic scientific research is lacking to guide decisions that could alter the Arctic ecosystem forever. An oil spill in icy waters would be a disaster we have no idea how to clean up.
The Arctic is ground zero of the global warming crisis. Its seas, its wildlife and its people are already suffering the harmful effects of a warming world. Extracting more oil and gas would not only directly damage the Arctic ecosystem, but burning those fossil fuels will make global warming worse, while doing nothing to meet the nation's need for clean energy.
Now is the time to urge President Obama and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to treat America's Arctic as a national treasure and put the brakes on irresponsible oil and gas drilling. Let them know that the Arctic's places, species and people are too precious to allow further oil and gas activity without a comprehensive, science-based plan to protect the region's unique wildlife and the people whose culture and livelihoods depend on them.
Until September 21, Secretary Salazar is asking for Americans' opinions on a Bush-era plan for selling Arctic oil and gas leases. Soon he also will decide whether to permit Shell to drill in the Arctic Ocean in 2010 and whether to defend a Bush-era sale in the Chukchi Sea that offered the pristine area to oil companies without complying with environmental laws.
Secretary Salazar should throw out the Bush-era leasing plan and cancel the illegal Chukchi Sea leases. He should call a "time-out" on all new oil and gas activity in the Arctic Ocean--including pending drilling plans--until he develops a science-based, comprehensive approach to managing the region that will ensure a legacy of a healthy, living Arctic for future generations.
These upcoming decisions present the Obama administration with the opportunity to chart a new course for the Arctic. Please take a minute to urge them to do so.For thousands of years, the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean have nurtured irreplaceable... more
-
-
The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible record low polar ice cap.
From the barren Arctic shore of this village in Canada's far northwest, 1,500 miles (2,414 kilometers) north of Seattle, veteran observer Eddie Gruben has seen the summer ice retreating more each decade as the world has warmed. By this weekend the ice edge lay some 80 miles (128 kilometers) at sea.
"Forty years ago, it was 40 miles (64 kilometers) out," said Gruben, 89, patriarch of a local contracting business.
Global average temperatures rose 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.6 degree Celsius) in the past century, but Arctic temperatures rose twice as much or even faster, almost certainly in good part because of manmade greenhouse gases, researchers say.
In late July the mercury soared to almost 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) in this settlement of 900 Inuvialuit, the name for western Arctic Eskimos.
"The water was really warm," Gruben said. "The kids were swimming in the ocean."
As of Thursday, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center reported, the polar ice cap extended over 2.61 million square miles (6.75 million square kilometers) after having shrunk an average 41,000 square miles (106,000 square kilometers) a day in July -- equivalent to one Indiana or three Belgiums daily.
The rate of melt was similar to that of July 2007, the year when the ice cap dwindled to a record low minimum extent of 1.7 million square miles (4.3 million square kilometers) in September.
In its latest analysis, the Colorado-based NSIDC said Arctic atmospheric conditions this summer have been similar to those of the summer of 2007, including a high-pressure ridge that produced clear skies and strong melt in the Beaufort Sea, the arm of the Arctic Ocean off northern Alaska and northwestern Canada.
In July, "we saw acceleration in loss of ice," the U.S. center's Walt Meier told The Associated Press. In recent days the pace has slowed, making a record-breaking final minimum "less likely but still possible," he said.
Scientists say the makeup of the frozen polar sea has shifted significantly the past few years, as thick multiyear ice has given way as the Arctic's dominant form to thin ice that comes and goes with each winter and summer.
The past few years have "signaled a fundamental change in the character of the ice and the Arctic climate," Meier said.
Ironically, the summer melts since 2007 appear to have allowed disintegrating but still thick multiyear ice to drift this year into the relatively narrow channels of the Northwest Passage, the east-west water route through Canada's Arctic islands. Usually impassable channels had been relatively ice-free the past two summers.The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers)... more
-
