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Sea ice atop the Arctic Ocean. NASA

Warm Waters Under Arctic Ice a 'Ticking Time Bomb'

Scientists warn that a warm layer of salty ocean water accumulating 50 meters beneath the Arctic's Canadian Basin could potentially melt the region's sea-ice pack for much of the year if it reaches the surface.

The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science Advances by researchers from Yale University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

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Frozen methane bubbles in a thermokarst lake in Alaska. Miriam Jones / USGS

Fast-Melting Lakes Could Increase Permafrost Emissions 118 Percent

Scientists may need to more than double their assessment of how much carbon dioxide and methane thawing Arctic permafrost will release into the atmosphere this century, according to a study published this month.

The paper, published in Nature Communications Aug. 15, said that previous estimates for how greenhouse gasses released by thawing permafrost would contribute to global climate change focused on the slow thawing of permafrost near the surface.

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Climate
Bernard Spragg. NZ / Flickr

World's Largest Shipping Company to Send First Ship Through Melting Arctic

Denmark's Maersk Line, the world's largest shipping company, will soon be the first to send a container vessel through Russia's Northern Sea Route, as the melting Arctic opens up new trade possibilities.

The Northern Sea Route has been historically impossible or prohibitively expensive to cross due to frozen sea ice. But the Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the globe due to climate change and has significantly thawed the region's ice.

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Climate
Wikimedia Commons

Strongest, Oldest Arctic Sea Ice Breaks Up for First Time on Record

The Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the globe, and now the region's thickest and oldest sea ice—also known as "the last ice area"—is breaking up for the first time on record, the Guardian reported Tuesday.

The breakage has opened up waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen-solid even in the peak of summer.

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Climate
Global warming in Iceland. Getty Images

Arctic Warming Amplifies Extreme Weather Events Globally: Wildfires, Flooding Likely to Be More Severe

Warming in the Arctic is causing the jet stream, a belt of air held "up" around the Arctic by the temperature difference between the Arctic and warmer climates, to weaken and slow.

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Kebnekaise as seen from Tarfala valley. Alexandar Vujadinovic

Sweden's Highest Peak Shrinks in Arctic Heatwave

The southern tip of the Kebnekaise mountain is likely no longer Sweden's highest peak as a heat wave in the Arctic circle bakes the region, researchers said.

Between July 2 and July 31, "four meters of snow and ice have melted, an average of 14 cm per day," Stockholm University Geography Professor and Head of the Tarfala Research Station near the mountain, Gunhild Rosqvist, said in a press release.

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Animals
Norwegian authorities said the polar bear attacked and injured a crew member of the 'MS Bremen' cruise ship who was leading tourists off the vessel on an Arctic archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole. The polar bear was shot dead by another employee, the cruise company said. GUSTAV BUSCH ARNTSEN / AFP / Getty Images

Polar Bear Shot Dead After Attacking Cruise Ship Guard, Raising Questions of Arctic Tourism

A German cruise operator is under fire after one its employees shot a wild polar bear dead on Norway's Svalbard archipelago after the animal injured a cruise ship guard.

The incident occurred Saturday after the tour ship MS Brennan docked on the island, Norwegian authorities confirmed.

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Despite Deadly Global Heatwave, Canada Invests in Climate Disaster

By Andy Rowell

If Justin Trudeau didn't know before, he does now. If Canada's prime minister could blame ignorance before, he can't now.

Every day brings reports of new deaths and disasters as the intense heat wave which has gripped much of the Northern Hemisphere continues.

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Climate
Moon with orange-colored troposphere band, the lowest and most dense portion of the earth's atmosphere. NASA

‘Powerful Evidence’ of Global Warming’s Effect on Seasons Found in Troposphere

By Daisy Dunne

Scientists studying the troposphere—the lowest level of the atmosphere—have found "powerful evidence" that climate change is altering seasonal temperatures.

A study published in Science finds that climate change has caused an increase in the difference between summer and winter temperatures across North America and Eurasia over the past four decades.

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