Green Options » North Pole http://greenoptions.com/tag/north-pole Posts tagged 'North Pole' Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 en Major Studies Reveal State of the Poles http://ecoworldly.com/2009/04/14/international-polar-year-major-studies-reveal-state-of-the-poles/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/04/14/international-polar-year-major-studies-reveal-state-of-the-poles/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:00:18 +0000 Michael Ricciardi http://ecoworldly.com/2009/04/14/international-polar-year-major-studies-reveal-state-of-the-poles/ Opening of the Northwest Passage as seen form the Space StationThis month, as the results of data analyses come in, climate scientists are getting a more detailed, far clearer picture of the ‘State of the Poles’ and the effects of warming and climate change in these most extreme regions of our planet. Although this project is actually the culmination of two years work (encompassing 160 separate studies and costing 1.2 billion dollars) it has been officially deemed the ‘International Polar Year’ (IPY).

One of the most important findings of this project is a confirmation of what many climate scientists have suspected for a couple of years now–that the impact of climate change on our environment is happening at a much faster rate than previous computer models predicted. This is true even for the four major reports released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the last of which was released in 2007).

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/04/14/international-polar-year-major-studies-reveal-state-of-the-poles/feed/ Just for Fun: Santa’s Getting Hot… Real Hot! http://sustainablog.org/2008/12/10/just-for-fun-santas-getting-hot-real-hot/ http://sustainablog.org/2008/12/10/just-for-fun-santas-getting-hot-real-hot/#comments Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:07:34 +0000 Jeff McIntire-Strasburg http://sustainablog.org/2008/12/10/just-for-fun-santas-getting-hot-real-hot/ Yep, Santa’s scorching… Our friends at 1% for the Planet have created this fun (OK, silly) Christmas video to bring attention to the effects of climate change on the polar regions.  Enjoy! This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post. ]]> http://sustainablog.org/2008/12/10/just-for-fun-santas-getting-hot-real-hot/feed/ Arctic Sea Ice Shrinks by an Amount Bigger than Alaska in August http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/09/08/arctic-sea-ice-shrinks-by-an-amount-bigger-than-alaska-in-august/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/09/08/arctic-sea-ice-shrinks-by-an-amount-bigger-than-alaska-in-august/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:20:54 +0000 Dana Nuccitelli http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/09/08/arctic-sea-ice-shrinks-by-an-amount-bigger-than-alaska-in-august/ Sea Ice Extent

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC),

Following a record rate of ice loss through the month of August, Arctic sea ice extent already stands as the second-lowest on record, further reinforcing conclusions that the Arctic sea ice cover is in a long-term state of decline. With approximately two weeks left in the melt season, the possibility of setting a new record annual minimum in September remains open.

A record was set for Arctic sea ice melt in 2007.  Much was made of the sea ice “recovery” over the ensuing winter of 2007/2008.  However, while the Arctic sea ice returned to an extent similar to that of the winter prior to the record melt, much of the new ice was very thin.  Thus even though 2008 has been a cooler year than 2007 (partially due to a strong La Nina cycle), the new, thinner ice has proven to be more susceptible to melting, as the graphic following the jump illustrates.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/09/08/arctic-sea-ice-shrinks-by-an-amount-bigger-than-alaska-in-august/feed/ First Ice-Free Summer Ever Predicted for Arctic http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/06/29/first-ice-free-summer-ever-predicted-for-arctic/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/06/29/first-ice-free-summer-ever-predicted-for-arctic/#comments Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:47:53 +0000 Joshua S Hill http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/06/29/first-ice-free-summer-ever-predicted-for-arctic/ 2147394996_6aa0f9510e I’ve covered the fate of the Arctic sea-ice for almost a year now, watching as report after report came out spelling doom for our northern pole. At the beginning of September last year I wrote a post called “Summer Ice to Disappear by 2030,” in which I quoted Dr. Mark Serreze, an Arctic specialist at the Boulder University of Colorado National Snow and Ice Data Center, saying that “It’s amazing. It’s simply fallen off a cliff and we’re still losing ice.”

Some near 10 months later, Dr. Serreze has predicted that, unless weather and ocean conditions change, it does not look like there will be any summer ice in the Arctic this year.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/06/29/first-ice-free-summer-ever-predicted-for-arctic/feed/ Arctic and Antarctica Polar Opposites http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/05/04/arctic-and-antarctica-polar-opposites/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/05/04/arctic-and-antarctica-polar-opposites/#comments Sun, 04 May 2008 21:07:02 +0000 Joshua S Hill http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/05/04/arctic-and-antarctica-polar-opposites/ Larsen_B_CollapseThere’s nothing quite as nice as a really catchy title that perfectly sums up your story. If you want to leave it at that, then you’ve probably got the whole of the story. However if you want to know just a bit more about how climate change is affecting our planet’s poles, then keep reading.

Speaking in a telephone briefing last Friday, Jennifer Francis, an atmospheric scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said that the Arctic and Antarctic are exhibiting opposite effects to the climate change affecting our planet.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2008/05/04/arctic-and-antarctica-polar-opposites/feed/ Red, Green & Blue: Will Polar Oil Race Launch a New Cold War? http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/ http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/#comments Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:01:54 +0000 Shirley Siluk Gregory http://shirleysilukgregory.greenoptions.com/2007/08/14/red-green-blue-will-polar-oil-race-launch-a-new-cold-war/
The Arctic is heating up in more than one way, as we saw last week when Russia planted its flag on the seafloor below in an apparent move to establish a claim to the ample oil and gas reserves buried beneath.

What’s disastrous for polar bears and Inuit subsistence hunters is emerging as a potentially huge — and destabilizing — fossil-fuel rush for the nations bordering the Arctic Ocean as the polar ice melts. How heated could disputes over the North’s buried oil and gas riches become? It’s still early, but I’ve already heard at least one theory that this could even spark conflict between the U.S. and, of all places, Canada. The ocean treaty regarding claims to seabed sovereignty might soon fall apart before the U.S. has even ratified it.

So how concerned should we be? What role should the Earth’s citizens play as the most fuel-hungry nations on the globe start a new race for buried energy? Is this the start of the next Cold War?

Image source: Wikimedia Commons

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