arctic

Ancient Leaves Preserved Under Greenland’s Ice Reveal Climate Secrets

Ancient Leaves Preserved Under Greenland’s Ice Reveal Climate Secrets

By Andrew Christ and Paul Bierman In 1963, inside a covert U.S. military base in northern Greenland, a team of scientists began drilling down through the Greenland ice sheet. Piece by piece, they extracted an ice core 4 inches across and nearly a mile long. At the very end, they pulled up something else – […]

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    NOAA Names 2020 Second-Hottest Year on Record; NASA Says It Tied for Hottest Ever

    NOAA Names 2020 Second-Hottest Year on Record; NASA Says It Tied for Hottest Ever

    By Jeff Masters, Ph.D. Earth had its second-warmest year on record in 2020, just 0.02 degrees Celsius (0.04°F) behind the record set in 2016, and 0.98 degrees Celsius (1.76°F) above the 20th-century average, NOAA reported January 14. NASA and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service rated 2020 as tied with 2016 as the warmest year […]

    Increase in Lightning Strikes Expected to Ignite More Wildfires

    Increase in Lightning Strikes Expected to Ignite More Wildfires

    As the planet’s temperature warms, the frequency of lightning strikes is expected to grow with it, Environmental Journal reported. Currently, lightning strikes the earth’s surface nearly eight million times a day. This number is expected to dramatically increase as global temperatures rise, according to a study published by Science. The U.S., for example, could experience […]

    ‘Biggest Threat Yet’ to Arctic Refuge as Trump Readies Last-Minute Lease Sale

    ‘Biggest Threat Yet’ to Arctic Refuge as Trump Readies Last-Minute Lease Sale

    By Andrea Germanos “The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge faces its biggest threat yet.” That’s the warning issued by the National Audubon Society on Tuesday — a day before the Trump administration is set to sell oil and gas leasing rights in the refuge’s coastal plain, a biodiversity hotspot of critical importance to the Gwich’in people […]

    ‘Disappointing’ Decision From Norway’s Supreme Court in Climate Lawsuit Challenging Arctic Offshore Oil Licenses

    ‘Disappointing’ Decision From Norway’s Supreme Court in Climate Lawsuit Challenging Arctic Offshore Oil Licenses

    By Dana Drugmand Norway’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled not to overturn the Norwegian government’s approval of new licenses for offshore oil drilling in the fragile Arctic region. The ruling – a culmination of four years of high-profile litigation in a case challenging continued fossil fuel production on climate change grounds — came as a […]

    Bowhead Whale Population Recovers Despite Arctic Warming

    Bowhead Whale Population Recovers Despite Arctic Warming

    In good news that has scientists excited, bowhead whale populations are nearing pre-commercial whaling numbers in U.S. waters. According to a recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report card on the species, bowhead whales are the true Arctic baleen whale species and the only one that lives in the cold waters year-round. In the […]

    Moon Influences Arctic Ocean Methane Releases, Study Finds

    Moon Influences Arctic Ocean Methane Releases, Study Finds

    The moon helps to control the release of methane from the Arctic Ocean. That’s the takeaway from a study published in Nature Communications in October, which found that the tidal rhythms played a role in the intensity and frequency of methane releases from sediments in the Arctic Ocean. Lower tides meant more intense releases, while […]

    The Arctic Is Drastically Changing Due to Climate Change: Watch New Video From NOAA

    The Arctic Is Drastically Changing Due to Climate Change: Watch New Video From NOAA

    Global warming is rapidly changing the Arctic into a region that is, “warmer, less frozen, and biologically changed in ways that are scarcely imaginable even a generation ago,” according to NOAA’s annual Arctic report card, released Tuesday. That description, from Rick Thoman, a University of Alaska scientist and one of the editors of the assessment, […]

    Court Rejects Trump’s Arctic Drilling Proposal in ‘Huge Victory for Polar Bears and Our Climate’

    Court Rejects Trump’s Arctic Drilling Proposal in ‘Huge Victory for Polar Bears and Our Climate’

    By Jessica Corbett Climate action advocates and wildlife defenders celebrated Monday after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rejected the Trump administration’s approval of Liberty, a proposed offshore oil-drilling project in federal Arctic waters that opponents warned would endanger local communities, animals, and the environment. “This is a huge victory for polar […]