Arctic temperatures are now "locked in" for increased wintertime warming, with winter temperatures set to rise 3-5 degrees C by 2050 even if the world meets the goals set out in the Paris agreement, a new UN Environment report says.
Meltwater on the Greenland ice sheet. Ashley Cooper / Corbis Documentary / Getty Images
Greenland is getting rainier, even in winter, a new study has found, and that has major implications for sea level rise.
The Greenland ice sheet loses about 270 billion tons of ice each year to climate change, raising global sea levels by 7.5 millimeters (approximately 0.3 inches) between 1992 and 2011, Science Magazine explained. About half of that was due to the calving of icebergs, but recent satellite observations have revealed that 70 percent of Greenland's contribution to global sea level rise in recent years has come from meltwater running off into the ocean. Scientists wanted to understand what was driving the meltwater.
Researchers tested the eggs of Arctic northern fulmers like these in Nunavut, Canada. Fiona Paton / Flickr
By Madison Dapcevich
Plastics have been recorded in every corner of the world, from the remote icy waters of Antarctica to the bellies of deep-sea fishes. Now, preliminary findings presented at this year's American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Washington, DC suggest that bird eggs from the high Arctic—one of the most remote wildernesses on the planet—show evidence of contamination from chemicals used in plastics.
The Russian military is taking measures to protect the residents of a remote Arctic settlement from a mass of polar bears, German press agency DPA reported.
The move comes after regional authorities declared a state of emergency over the weekend after sightings of more than 50 bears in the town of Belushya Guba since December.
The Natural History Museum in London announced on Wednesday the winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year: LUMIX People's Choice Award.
After counting 16,000 votes from nature fans, wildlife photographer David Lloyd's shot of a pair of nuzzling Serengeti lions, called Bond of Brothers, was crowned the top image.
Caribou grazing on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. USFWS
A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a bill on Monday would block oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) aim to repeal a little-known Arctic drilling provision that was quietly snuck into the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
2018 was a breakthrough year for Arctic conservation work at the International Maritime Organization (IMO). I wrote partly about it in my previous blog. Aside from obtaining internationally recognized routing measures and shipping areas to be avoided (ATBA) in the Bering Sea, IMO also moved forward with regulations to ban the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) in the Arctic.
The United Nations shipping agency also moved to regulate climate-change causing greenhouse gas emissions in the international shipping industry, which is one of the largest emitters of carbon and other atmosphere pollutants. I look forward to continuing that type of work into 2019. And there will be plenty of opportunity for that, as there are a number of IMO subcommittee meetings that will consider pollution reduction and prevention measures. The people who I believe made some of the most significant differences in this work in 2018 were able to come to IMO with me last fall.
As Earth's rising temperatures shrink Arctic ice, where will polar bears go? Andreas Weith / CC BY-SA 4.0
Authorities in northern Russia's Novaya Zemlya islands declared a state of emergency this weekend after a "mass invasion" of polar bears in the settlement of Belushya Guba, the BBC reported.
Media reports and video footage show the bears eating garbage, appearing near school grounds and entering buildings and residential homes.
Ice melt from Greenland, where this iceberg was photographed, could wreak havoc on the global climate this century. posteriori / Getty Images
There's good news and there's bad news. Two new studies focusing on ice melt in Antarctica and Greenland have revised down the worst-case scenario for the amount of sea level rise the world could see by 2100, but say the overall climate impacts of melt water entering the oceans could be devastating.
"The sea-level estimates maybe aren't as bad as we thought, but the climate predictions are worse," lead author of one of the studies and Antarctic Research Center of the University of Victoria, Wellington climate scientist Nick Golledge told National Geographic.
A cold morning sunrise in Enköping, Sweden on Jan. 27, when the temperature reached a low of 13°F. Anders Uhrvik / Flickr
Weather and climate aren't the same. It's one thing for people who spend little or no time learning about global warming to confuse the two, but when those we elect to represent us don't know the difference, we're in trouble.
For a U.S. president to tweet about what he referred to as "Global Waming" because parts of the country are experiencing severe winter conditions displays a profound ignorance that would be embarrassing for an ordinary citizen, let alone the leader of a world power.
The Trump administration is barreling ahead with plans to drill for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the largest refuge in the country and an area of global ecological importance.
