Arctic sea ice is melting faster than climate models predicted and there is less sea ice in the Arctic now than at any time since records began, scientists from the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) have discovered.
… discovered. With one month of the summer melt season remaining, the area covered by Arctic …
One of the most memorable parts of Al Gore’s film 'An Inconvenient Truth' was the cartoon polar bear trying to climb on the last piece of sea-ice in the Arctic, failing, and despondently swimming off into the sunset. With scientists this week reporting that autumn Arctic sea-ice coverage reached a record low this year, Al Gore’s cartoon may not be as far-fetched as it seems.
… it seems. Arctic sea ice during the 2007 melt season plummeted to the lowest levels since …
The climate change discourse rarely looks beyond 2100, writes Pete Dolack. Maybe that's because even at current levels of CO2, we are committed to thousands of years of warming and polar ice melt that will raise sea levels by at least six meters. However the implacable imperatives of capitalism mean there's little prospect of change for a long time to come.
The world is already committed to a six meter sea level rise Pete Dolack Systemic Disorder | 24th July 2015 News Climate Change Oceans Science Emissions Arctic Antarctic antarctic-icefront.jpg …
The Arctic Ocean is coming close to complete summer meltdown, writes John Nissen - indeed it could happen as soon as September, triggering a severe deterioration in climate across the northern hemisphere. With fast-rising temperatures predicted in the coming decade, we must act now to save the Arctic, before it's too late.
… will be short-lived, as the effects of a seasonally ice free Arctic Ocean begin to …
Weird weather from serious flooding in the UK to acute cold and drought in the USA follows from the warming Arctic and disruptions to the jet stream, writes John Nissen. We must act now to prevent sudden changes in global climate.
We must prevent abrupt climate change John Nissen | 8th February 2014 Comment Climate Change Arctic arctic-sea-ice.png Weird weather from serious flooding in the UK to acute cold and drought in the …
After 12 successive months of record high global temperatures, yet another record has been broken, writes Tim Radford: the lowest May sea ice extent ever observed in the Arctic - over half a million square kilometers under the previous low, set in 2004.
Arctic ice recedes to record low for May Tim Radford | 10th June 2016 News Climate Change Arctic Oceans Ice Water polar-bear-sea-ice-cut.jpg After 12 successive months of record high global …
The expected melting of sea ice in Canada's Arctic Archipelago will progressively render huge areas unable to support viable polar bears populations, writes Tim Radford. By 2100 the polar bears could be pushed out altogether.
… by the late 21st century with ice-free seasons reaching critical duration, and early …
The Earth faces an imminent crisis caused by runaway Arctic warming. So says climate campaigner John Nissen, who travelled to COP20 in Lima to impress the dangers on delegates - and urge them to emergency action to cool the Arctic before it's too late. Tomás d'Ornellas, editor of Tecnews.pe, met him there ...
The melting Arctic - John Nissen's emergency call to action Tomás d'Ornellas | 15th December 2015 Comment Arctic Climate Change Geo-engineering Unfccc john-nissen-cop20.jpg The Earth faces an …
Ice melt in the Arctic Ocean is opening up previously untouched areas to industrial fishing fleets using ecologically risky bottom trawling methods, writes Joe Sandler Clarke. Ecosystems supporting walruses, polar bears, puffins and other sea birds could be stripped bare.
Arctic warming opens pristine ocean to predatory trawling Joe Sandler Clarke Greenpeace Energydesk | 3rd March 2016 News Marine Environment Fishing Climate Change Arctic fishing trawler making its …
The causes of climate change are far from their shores, but these tiny Pacific nations face growing social strife and eventual annihilation unless western governments wake up and take responsibility, argue Scott Leckie and Dan Lewis
… of her homeland or to pursue options overseas for the country’s threatened citizens. … and Tuvalu. The choice to battle the rising seas or set one’s families up in larger, … of both countries, while watching rising seas from dwindling shorelines, is a mighty …
Greenland's glaciers are more vulnerable to global warming than had previously been feared, reports Tim Radford, as ice bodies are undercut by seawater. The threat of rapidly rising sea levels just went up yet another notch.
… models." 'Major implications' for rising seas The scientists, of course, could not see … melt will contribute much more to rising seas around the globe." And another threat from above But even before the warming seas start to lap at the rim of Greenland's …
Of all the impacts of climate change, one stands out for its inexorable menace, writes Pete Dolack: rising oceans. And it's not just for distant future generations to deal with: new scientific studies show that people alive today may face 6-9 metres of sea level rise flooding well over a million sq.km including many of the world's biggest cities. So where's the emergency response?
No planet for optimists: coastal flooding may come sooner and bigger than we think Pete Dolack | 8th April 2016 News Oceans Climate Change Emissions COP21 Science Arctic Antarctica big-wave-cut.jpg …
The political future of the Arab world's largest country could look brighter following the recent uprising in Tahrir Square and beyond. But the country faces an ecological catastrophe - much of it tourism related - reports Joseph Mayton from Cairo
Egypt faces 'environmental crisis' following ousting of Mubarak Joseph Mayton | 19th May 2011 News Investigations Politics And Economics Pollution Egypt Tourism Waste istock_000016004445small.jpg The …
Former editor of New Scientist and author of After The Ice: Life, Death and Politics in the New Arctic on climategate, polar military activity and the icecap's chances
Alun Anderson: I'd like a big volcanic eruption and an Arctic disaster Laura Sevier | 22nd February 2010 Comment Climate Change Natural World Climategate Arctic Icecap alun-portrait3.jpg Former …
Scientists analysing more than three decades of weather data for the northern Alaska outpost of Barrow have recorded an astonishing 7°C temperature rise, writes Alex Kirby - and the likely cause is the decline in Arctic sea ice.
… when sea ice loss in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, which border northern Alaska, has been …
As the melting Arctic ice cap opens a new ocean to the world, governments and private speculators are rushing to cash in on lucrative resource deposits and shipping lanes. But they may find these virgin waters a dangerous place to do business…
… creates increasingly abundant 'first-year' seasonal ice, which is less 'solid' than the … a growth in such activity across the seasons, often with highly hazardous cargo. … of expensive icebreaker escorts and narrow seasonal windows will soon disappear – an …
Russia last week planted a flag on the Arctic seabed while the Canadian Prime Minister announced $57 million plans to establish military control over a key future Arctic shipping route, in symbolic moves to seize previously inaccessible Arctic fossil fuel reserves.
Canada and Russia are leading the stampede for a wealth of oil and gas exposed as climate change melts the Arctic sea-ice. 13th August 2007 News Lomonosov Ridge Artic Stephen Harper Global Warming …
The decline of Arctic sea ice demands a response, writes Matthew Worsdale. As Arctic temperatures rise, so does the danger of huge eruptions of methane - a powerful greenhouse gas - that will tip the climate into 'hot'. The only solution is geo-engineering.
… back towards values at the start of the melt season in previous years leading up to the …
A survey of threatened Arctic mammals highlights melting sea ice as a prime threat to eleven keystone species, writes Tim Radford - meaning that efforts to conserve them may be doomed to failure unless we also tackle the causes of climate change.
… numbers and trends, and the local pattern of seasonal change in the ice. They identified 78 …
The reckless deep-sea gold rush that could turn the North American continental shelf into one giant factory-style fish farm
… High Seas Drifters Ben Belton | 8th July 2004 News … the bulk of the fodder fish come from the seas off developing countries like Chile, … cages expands, numerous virulent new diseases are likely to emerge. It is this aspect …
Levels of sea ice around the North Pole now stand at their lowest ever levels, the Guardian has reported.
Arctic ice cover at new low 5th September 2007 News Arctic Guardian Serreze Sea Sea Levels Sea Ice North Pole Global Warming Climate Change Carbon Dioxide Global Warming Climate Change Sea Levels …
Log books from British whaling ships more than 200 years ago have given new insights into the history of the Arctic sea ice, reports Tim Radford. A new study reveals that the scale of ice melt in the Arctic over the last few decades is new and unprecedented.
… the whalers and adventurers who took to the seas in the great age of exploration that …
As the Arctic ice retreats, a fragile but resource-rich landscape replete with oil, minerals, fish and islands is opening up, writes Conn Hallinan. A new land-rush is on, and it could all lead to war. But it can be avoided provided states respect the rule of law and build on existing regimes of cooperation to protect the precious Arctic environment.
… of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Seas that allows countries to claim ownership … that Washington has not signed the Law of the Seas Convention. However, the US has locked … Any ships traversing the East and South China seas on the way north will find themselves in …