arctic

The Unsettling Reason Why We’re Seeing More Snowy Owls

The Unsettling Reason Why We’re Seeing More Snowy Owls

For birders and fans of Hedwig from the Harry Potter series, spotting a snowy owl in the wild is a special treat as these great white raptors spend most of their lives in the Arctic. But sightings further south have become more common in North America in recent winters. As the Ottawa Citizen reported this […]

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    Greenland Melting Is ‘Off the Charts’

    Greenland Melting Is ‘Off the Charts’

    The first continuous, multi-century study of surface melt from the Greenland ice sheet was published in Nature Wednesday, and the results are clear: the ice sheet is now melting at rates unseen within at least the last 350 years. “Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet has gone into overdrive. As a result, Greenland melt is […]

    New Bear on the Block: Grizzlies Spotted in Black and Polar Bear Habitats

    New Bear on the Block: Grizzlies Spotted in Black and Polar Bear Habitats

    For the first time, scientists have observed three American bear species—the black bear, polar bear and grizzly bear—using the same habitat in Canada’s Wapusk National Park. “Scientifically, it has never been documented anywhere,” Doug Clark of the University of Saskatchewan told the Canadian Press. Using remote cameras, Clark and his research team documented 401 bear-visits […]

    Not Enough Ice to Drill the Arctic! Offshore Oil Drilling a ‘Disaster Waiting to Happen’

    Not Enough Ice to Drill the Arctic! Offshore Oil Drilling a ‘Disaster Waiting to Happen’

    Last month, the Trump administration approved the first offshore oil drilling development in federal Arctic waters, which environmentalists fear will ramp up carbon pollution that fuels climate change. But here’s the ultimate irony: Hilcorp Alaska‘s project—which involves building a 9-acre artificial drilling island in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea—has been delayed because of […]

    Arctic Ship Traffic Threatens Narwhals and Other Extraordinary Animals

    Arctic Ship Traffic Threatens Narwhals and Other Extraordinary Animals

    By Donna Hauser, Harry Stern and Kristin Laidre Americans often associate fall with football and raking leaves, but in the Arctic this season is about ice. Every year, floating sea ice in the Arctic thins and melts in spring and summer, then thickens and expands in fall and winter. As climate change warms the Arctic, […]

    Watch: How to Dance Like a Glacier

    Watch: How to Dance Like a Glacier

    By Jeremy Deaton Eighteenth century French choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre once wrote, “A fine picture is but the image of nature; a finished ballet is nature herself.” Noverre was arguing for the immediacy of dance. Twenty-first century American choreographer Diana Movius took his words literally. In GLACIER: A Climate Change Ballet, Movius depicts the slow melt […]

    5 Countries Control 70% of the World’s Remaining Wilderness

    5 Countries Control 70% of the World’s Remaining Wilderness

    This week began with the disturbing news that human activity has caused a 60 percent decline in wildlife since 1970. Now, a group of researchers from the University of Queensland and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have released a stunning map showing that just five countries are home to more than 70 percent of the […]

    Arctic Oil Drilling Project Approved by Trump Administration

    Arctic Oil Drilling Project Approved by Trump Administration

    The Trump administration’s unrelenting quest for Arctic oil and gas took a major step on Wednesday as it approved an energy company’s controversial production plan. Hilcorp Alaska received the green light to build the Liberty Project, a nine-acre artificial drilling island and 5.6-mile underwater pipeline, which environmentalists warn could risk oil spills in the sensitive […]

    Nations to Sign Groundbreaking Arctic Ocean Fishing Ban

    Nations to Sign Groundbreaking Arctic Ocean Fishing Ban

    The U.S. and nine of the world’s largest fishing economies will sign an agreement Wednesday in Ilulissat, Greenland that bans commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean for the next 16 years. “This is the first multilateral agreement of its kind to take a legally binding, precautionary approach to protect an area from commercial fishing […]