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We Are Failing to Protect the Arctic From the Climate Crisis, Report Card Shows
11 December 2019
Climate
The melting of Greenland alone, pictured above, has risen sea levels by about 0.7 millimeters a year. MB Photography / Moment / Getty Images
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its 14th annual Arctic Report Card Tuesday, and the results are grim.
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A new study shows that half of all Arctic warming and corresponding sea-loss during the late 20th century was caused by ozone-depleting substances. Here, icebergs discharged from Greenland's Jakobshavn Glacier. Kevin Krajick / Earth Institute / EurekAlert!
The world awakened to the hole in the ozone layer in 1985, which scientists attributed it to ozone-depleting substances. Two years later, in Montreal, the world agreed to ban the halogen compounds causing the massive hole over Antarctica. Research now shows that those chemicals didn't just cut a hole in the ozone layer, they also warmed up the Arctic.
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Protesters hold signs at a protest inside JP Morgan Chase headquarters in Manhattan on Nov. 20. As Goldman Sachs divests from Arctic Oil explorations, Rainforest Action Network says the move shows other Big Banks like JP Morgan Chase can too. Erik McGregor / LightRocket / Getty Images
People navigate snow-covered sidewalks in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on Nov. 11 in Chicago. Scott Olson / Getty Images
Temperatures plunged rapidly across the U.S. this week and around 70 percent of the population is expected to experience temperatures around freezing Wednesday.
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During the summer, the Arctic tundra is usually a thriving habitat for mammals such as the Arctic fox. Education Images / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Reports of extreme snowfall in the Arctic might seem encouraging, given that the region is rapidly warming due to human-driven climate change. According to a new study, however, the snow could actually pose a major threat to the normal reproductive cycles of Arctic wildlife.
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Sea ice in Lancaster Sound, where researchers found surprisingly high concentrations of microplastics. Franco Banfi / WaterFrame / Getty Images
Two groups of researchers have found microplastics in Arctic ice and snow, Reuters reported Wednesday.
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Magnetic North Pole Is Moving Toward Russia at a Swift Pace, Confounding Scientists
19 December 2019
Science
Global map of declination and the dip pole locations for 2020. NOAA NCEI / CIRES
Earth's magnetic north pole, which serves as an anchor point for our navigation has been actively moving east from the Canadian Arctic towards Russia, as CNN reported.
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Polar bear cub in the snow at the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. P. de Graaf / Moment / Getty Images
The Trump administration has asserted that "there is not a climate crisis" as justification for expanding drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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Walruses in the Arctic on Aug. 20, 2018. Alice Cahill / Flickr
Don't mess with a mother walrus!
That's what a team of Russian scientists and naval sailors learned when they tried to land on a remote Arctic archipelago in an inflatable boat, The Independent reported Tuesday.
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Methane gas bubbles are seen trapped in the ice of a frozen thermokarst lake, which has an active methane seep. Kevin Hand, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
An international team of scientists says a new way of extracting methane gas trapped in permafrost has the potential to harvest more gas while burning fewer fossil fuels in the extraction process, as Newsweek reported.
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Greenland Ice Sheet Melt Creates Huge Waterfalls, Increasing Concerns About Sea Level Rise
03 December 2019
Climate
Meltwater forms on the Greenland ice sheet near Sermeq Avangnardleq glacier on Aug. 4, 2019 near Ilulissat, Greenland. Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Scientists in the Arctic watched a glacial lake in Greenland turn into a waterfall that drained five million cubic meters of water, or 2,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, in just five hours, worrying scientists that the world's second largest ice sheet is becoming unstable, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Saving the Ozone Layer 30 Years Ago Slowed Global Warming. Can Similar Cooperation Now Solve the Climate Crisis?
12 December 2019
A NASA image showing the ozone hole at its maximum extent for 2015. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The Montreal Protocol, a 1987 international treaty prohibiting the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to save the ozone layer, was the first successful multilateral agreement to successfully slow the rate of global warming, according to new research. Now, experts argue that similar measures may lend hope to the climate crisis.
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Satellite images show wildfires burning through the Central Siberian Plateau. Copernicus / Sentinel Hub / Pierre Markuse
Scientists found the most melting near Mould Bay on Prince Patrick Island, NWT, Canada. University of Alaska Fairbanks Permafrost Laboratory
Trump Moves to Open 1.5 Million Acres of Alaskan Refuge for Oil Drilling By End of the Year
14 September 2019
An image of the trans-alaskan oil pipeline that carries oil from the northern part of Alaska all the way to valdez. This shot is right near the arctic national wildlife refuge. kyletperry / iStock / Getty Images Plus
The Trump administration has initialized the final steps to open up nearly 1.6 million acres of the protected Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to allow oil and gas drilling.
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A polar fox is fitted with a satellite tracking collar in Krossfjorden, Svalbard, a Norwegian Arctic archipelago, on July 29, 2017, as part of research conducted by the Norwegian Polar Institute. Norwegian researchers said July 2, that this young female arctic fox has been tracked walking from northern Norway to Canada's far north. Elise Stroemseng / Norwegian Polar Institute / Twitter
Scientists were left "speechless" by a female Arctic fox's record-breaking journey from Norway's Svalbard islands to northern Canada, BBC News reported Monday.
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Vikings Likely Hunted Ancient Walruses in Iceland to Extinction, New Research Finds
18 September 2019
Prehistoric and historic walrus skulls, tusks and bone fragments often wash ashore on the southern coast of Snæfellsnes peninsula in Iceland. Hilmar J. Malmquist
A unique subpopulation of ancient walrus in Iceland was likely hunted to extinction by Vikings shortly after arrival to the region, according to new research.
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Ice-rich permafrost has been exposed due to coastal erosion, National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska. Brandt Meixell / USGS
By Jake Johnson
An alarming study released Tuesday found that melting Arctic permafrost could add nearly $70 trillion to the global cost of climate change unless immediate action is taken to slash carbon emissions.
According to the new research, published in the journal Nature Communications, melting permafrost caused by accelerating Arctic warming would add close to $70 trillion to the overall economic impact of climate change if the planet warms by 3°C by 2100.
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A federal judge has restored prohibitions against drilling in the Arctic Ocean designed to protect polar bears and other wildlife. Universal History Archive / UIG via Getty Images
A federal judge in Alaska ruled on Friday that President Donald Trump "exceeded the president's authority" when he signed an executive order to allow offshore oil drilling in around 125 million acres of the Arctic Ocean, CNN reported.
U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason's decision restores a ban on drilling in 98 percent of the U.S.-controlled Arctic Ocean, according to Earthjustice, which sued to stop Trump's order on behalf of several environmental groups and Alaska Native communities.
The ruling "shows that the president cannot just trample on the constitution to do the bidding of his cronies in the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our oceans, wildlife and climate," Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
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