This is the 33rd issuance of the annual assessment now known as State of the Climate, published in the Bulletin since 1996. As a supplement to the Bulletin, its foremost function is to document the status and trajectory of many components of the climate system. However, as a series, the …
Trees colonising formerly open tundra as the climate warms could cause Arctic ecosystems to release vast amounts of stored soil carbon into the atmosphere, a new paper argues. Many climate models have assumed that trees taking over the Arctic, and the enormous increase in plant biomass this would bring, would …
Arctic riches unlocked by global warming will not begin to make up for the costs of climate change . A FLOATING MOUNTAIN of grey and white ice, castellated and crevassed like an Alpine ridge, the iceberg is vast: the size of two aircraft carriers, maybe more. Scale is hard to …
Much of the change in the Arctic is understood; little of it is reassuring . NY-ALESUND IS a special place in Arctic science. A huddle of wooden buildings by an icy fjord on Norway's island of Spitsbergen, high in the Barents Sea, it is the world's most northerly civilian settlement. …
The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, says James Astill. The retreating ice offers access to precious minerals and new sea lanes—but also carries grave dangers STANDING ON THE Greenland ice cap, it is obvious why restless modern man so reveres wild places. Everywhere …
So far, 2012 has been the warmest year the United States has ever seen, with the warmest spring and the second-warmest May since record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Thursday. Temperatures for the past 12 months and the year-to-date have been the warmest …
NOAA reported that six other arctic monitoring stations in their international cooperative air sampling network have reported CO2 concentrations of 400 ppm this spring. These measurements from remote high latitude stations in Alaska, Canada, Iceland, Finland, Norway and the North Pacific reflect background levels of CO2 influenced by the long-term …
Monitoring stations in the Arctic detect record levels of carbon dioxide, higher than ever above 'safe' 350ppm mark The world's air has reached what scientists call a troubling new milestone for carbon dioxide, the main global warming pollutant. Monitoring stations across the Arctic this spring are measuring more than 400 …
This briefing shows that loss of sea ice habitat in the Arctic is already causing major problems for some Arctic species. This may well lead to population losses and even extinctions of marine mammal species in the future. A 2008 analysis of climate change in the Arctic noted that ‘Prevention …
Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere. The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient …
Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere. The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts. Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient …
With melting sea ice opening up previously inaccessible parts of the Arctic Ocean, the fishing industry sees a potential bonanza. But some scientists and government officials have begun calling for a moratorium on fishing in the region until the true state of the Arctic fishery is assessed. When scientists with …
All around the world, oil and gas companies are being forced by resource declines to drill in less accessible areas, and the Arctic is their newest frontier. The geology above the Arctic Circle—that is, everything above latitude 66.56°N—holds an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil and 1,669 trillion cubic feet …
To the world’s military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes and a slew of potential conflicts. By Arctic …
Yokosuka (Japan): To the world’s military leaders, the debate over climate change is long over. They are preparing for a new kind of Cold War in the Arctic, anticipating that rising temperatures there will open up a treasure trove of resources, long-dreamed-of sea lanes and a slew of potential conflicts. …
Oil giant Shell last week overcame the last major legal obstacle to its plans in the Arctic Ocean this summer. On Wednesday, the US Department of the Interior (DoI) approved the firm's oil spill response plan, effectively granting permission for exploratory drilling in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska.
Countries of the Far North are set to be the new players in the emerging Arctic frontier. The polar ice cap is melting at much faster rates than previously predicted, and may be completely ice free by the summer of 2040 or sooner. There are vast untapped resources in the …
This year's frenzy of oil and gas exploration in newly accessible Arctic waters could be the harbinger of even starker changes to come. If, as many scientists predict, currently inaccessible sea lanes across the top of the world become navigable in the coming decades, they could redraw global trading routes …
The Arctic is likely to attract substantial investment over the next ten years, potentially reaching 100 billion $ or more, according to the report “Arctic Opening” by Chatham House and Lloyd´s of London. The authors also point to risks: the environmental consequences of disasters in the Arctic are likely to …
Climate change is happening now and is not some distant future event: World Meteorological Organization general secretary. The rate of climate change accelerated in the period 2001-2010—the warmest decade ever recorded worldwide, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in its preliminary findings for its report titled Decadal Global Climate Summary. …
