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Arctic Peoples Alert Newsletter (10 Nov 2012)

Inhoud Poolkoorts 9 november 2012

  • 10/11 november 2012 – Eindhoven – Wild Life
  • 26 november 2012 – Groningen – Imakalezing
  • Film: To the Arctic – Omniversum – Den Haag
  • Foto: Chasing Ice
  • Labyrint Publieksprijs voor Groningen
  • IJsvrije Noordpool heeft gevolgen voor weerspatronen
  • Groenlands ijs veroorzaakt recordaantal aardbevingen
  • Milieuregels voor NL-bedrijven ook in buitenland
  • Acties Greenpeace tegen Shell niet op voorhand verboden
  • Noorwegen blijft in Noordpoolgebied boren
  • Na 2400 jaar weer leven in meest noordelijke meer
  • VS-overheid hield informatie achter over BP-ramp
  • Shell voorlopig uitgeboord in Noordpoolgebied
  • Landingsbaan van miljoenen op Zuidpool smelt
  • VS Navy dolfijnen met pensioen

10/11 november 2012 – Eindhoven – Wild Life

Zaterdag 10 november 2012 van 13.00 – 17.00 uur

Zondag 11 november 2012 van 10.00 – 13.00 uur

Canuit – Canadian Eskimo Art Galerie

F.D. Rooseveltlaan 116 / 5625 PD Eindhoven / Tel.: 040 2415806

www.canuit.com

De kalenders voor het jaar 2013 zijn er!

Canuit staat op:
24 en 25 November 2012: Verzamelaarsjaarbeurs, Utrecht;

1 en   2 December 2012: Adventsfair, Ruurlo.

 

26 november 2012 – Groningen – Imakalezing

Antarctica – de Belgen op de Pool

Arctisch Centrum / Aweg 30 (ingang Herman Colleniusstraat)

9718 CW Groningen / http://www.rug.nl/let/onderzoek/onderzoekcentra/arctischcentrum/imaka/index

19:30 uur (Let op! De deur gaat na dit tijdstip op slot).

Toegang: € 2,00 (inclusief koffie en thee)

Johan Lambrechts, reisjournalist en auteur van het boek “Antarctica – de Belgen op de pool: de Belgische exploratie op Antarctica vroeger en nu”, neemt ons mee naar het koudste, ijzigste, winderigste en droogste continent ter wereld. Hij belicht het spannende relaas van de avontuurlijke Belgische exploratie van Antarctica, gekruid met veel anekdotes en rijkelijk geïllustreerd met audio- en beeldmateriaal.

Data 2013 (onder voorbehoud): 28.01 / 25.02 / 25.03 / 29.04 / 3.06.

 

Film: To the Arctic – Omniversum – Den Haag

President Kennedylaan 5 / 2517 JK Den Haag / 0900-6664837 (€ 0,35 p.m.)

Dagelijks / Film: Nederlands ingesproken; door Ellen ten Damme; vanaf 6 jaar.

Het filmavontuur To the Arctic onthult een meeslepend verhaal over het gevecht van een moeder ijsbeer en haar zeven maanden oude welpen om te overleven in de Arctische wildernis. Hun thuis wordt door de versnelde klimaatverandering in een rap tempo kleiner. De ijsbeer is wereldwijd het symbool van de opwarming van de aarde, maar To the Arctic laat niet alleen de overlevingsstrijd van ijsberen zien.

 

Foto: Chasing Ice

Fotograferen in time-lapse maakt versnelde klimaatsverandering pijnlijk zichtbaar. Samen met zijn cameraploeg legde natuurfotograaf James Balog indrukwekkende beelden vast van de teloorgang van enorme ijsschotsen op de Noordpool. De klimaatverandering is op de beelden, verzameld voor de documentaire Chasing Ice goed zichtbaar. Seeing the unseen, noemt Balog de beelden. Want, zegt hij: ‘Je kan maanden naar het landschap turen, maar de klimaatsverandering toch niet onder ogen krijgen… IJs is de kanarie van de global kolenmijn.’ Bij geen enkel ander natuurverschijnsel zijn de veranderingen zo goed zichtbaar.

Bron: NRC 2012.11.06, Jeannine Julen www.jamesbalog.com

 

Labyrint Publieksprijs voor Groningen

 

Op 24 oktober 2012 heeft het Team Over-levende Noordpool met 2.719 stemmen de Labyrint Publieksprijs gewonnen. Niet eerder werden er zoveel stemmen uitgebracht: totaal 6.443. Met het winnen van de publieksprijs staat SEES later in het seizoen centraal in een uitzending van wetenschappelijk TV-Programma Labyrint.

Dr. Maarten Loonen reageerde: ‘Ik ben hartstikke blij, de publieksprijs is heel speciaal. We

Team Over-levende Noordpool wil op reis naar Spitsbergen met studenten en kunstenaars, om op die manier het verhaal van de Noordpool te verspreiden onder een breed publiek.

www.sees.nl www.wetenschap24.nl

 

IJsvrije Noordpool heeft gevolgen voor weerspatronen

Over de gevolgen van een ijsvrije Arctische Oceaan voor het wereldwijde klimaat is het speculeren, maar wetenschappers spreken over een mogelijke catastrofe.

De ijskap is opnieuw met 18 % gekrompen ten opzichte van het bijna-record van 2011. In zomer 2012 is de ijskap nog maar half zo groot als 30 jaar geleden, en dat heeft gevolgen voor de weerspatronen.

Tot voor kort werd gevreesd voor een volledig afsmelten van de ijskap in 2070, maar nu lijkt het veel sneller te gebeuren, ergens tussen 2016 en 2030.

Bovendien bevat het Noordpoolgebied nog een klimaat-tijdbom: Permafrost, de permanent bevroren grond, waarin nog zeer grote hoeveelheden CO2 en methaan zitten. De permafrost strekt zich uit over een gebied van 13 miljoen km2.

Bron: IPS, ANP, Trouw 2012.09.24.

 

Groenlands ijs veroorzaakt recordaantal aardbevingen

Het snelle afsmelten van de ijskap boven Groenland veroorzaakt steeds meer aardbevingen, zogenoemde ijsbevingen. De bevingen zijn niet zwaar genoeg om schade toe te brengen, maar ze zijn wel krachtig genoeg om wereldwijd door seismologische apparatuur opgepikt te worden. Dat wijst erop dat het snelle afsmelten van de ijskap ook in het noorden van Groenland plaatsvindt. Tussen 2000 en 2010 werden er bijvoorbeeld 66 bevingen geteld in het noordwesten van Groenland, terwijl ze in de decennia daarvoor nauwelijks voorkwamen. Vorig jaar werd het tweede hoogste aantal sinds het recordjaar 2005 opgetekend, en nu al wijst alles erop dat 2012 het record van 2005 zal verbreken.

Bron: Journal of Geophysical Research , IPS, Trouw, 25.09.2012

 

Milieuwetten voor NL-bedrijven ook in buitenland

Nederlandse bedrijven moeten wettelijk verplicht worden in het buitenland dezelfde milieuregels te volgen als in eigen land. Overtreden zij deze, dan kan de Nederlandse justitie hen voor de strafrechter brengen.

Dit stelt hoogleraar Internationaal Milieurecht Jonathan Verschuuren van de Universiteit van Tilburg naar aanleiding van het proces vier Nigeriaanse boeren en vissers tegen Shell. In een civiele zaak voor de Haagse rechtbank eisen zij dat de oliemultinational de verontreiniging in hun dorpen opruimt. Ook willen zij schadevergoeding.

Shell betoogde dat niet zij, maar Shell Nigeria verantwoordelijk is voor de milieuschade als gevolg van het olietransport in dit land. Echte, de Haagse rechtbank stelt dat het moederbedrijf in Nederland kan worden aangesproken.

Ook de Nederlandse regering verschuilt zich bijvoorbeeld bij de activiteiten van Shell voor Alaska achter de besluitvorming in de VS, terwijl de VS onder andere de Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, het verdrag inzake Biologische Diversiteit niet heeft ondertekend en onder andere het VN-zeerechtverdrag (UNCLOS) niet heeft geratificeerd.

Bron: Trouw, 10.10.2012

 

Acties Greenpeace tegen Shell niet op voorhand verboden

De rechter kan toekomstige acties van milieuorganisatie Greenpeace tegen Shell niet op voorhand verbieden, mits die binnen de wettelijke regels blijven. In kort geding heeft dat de voorzieningenrechter in Amsterdam bepaald.

Shell had om een verbod gevraagd. Aanleiding was een campagne van Greenpeace tegen olieboringen rond de Noordpool. De milieuorganisatie blokkeerde het hoofdkantoor van Shell en bij meer dan 70 tankstations werd actiegevoerd, waardoor tanken onmogelijk was. De rechter benadrukt dat, ook al voldoen toekomstige acties aan de voorwaarden, dat niet wil zeggen dat die acties ook altijd rechtmatig zijn. Dat zal zo nodig achteraf beoordeeld moeten worden. Bron: ANP, Trouw 5.10.2012.

Noorwegen blijft in Noordpoolgebied boren

Noorwegen is niet onder de indruk van een mogelijk Europees moratorium op olieboringen in het Noordpoolgebied. De milieucommissie in het Europees Parlement stemde enkele weken geleden voor een moratorium op olieboringen in het Noordpoolgebied, maar in Oslo maakt dat weinig indruk. Noorwegen doet proefboringen in de regio, en de Noorse regering ziet geen reden om daarmee te stoppen.

‘De EU heeft er helemaal geen jurisdictie’, zegt Per Rune Henriksen, onderminister van Olie en Energie. ‘De Unie mag argumenteren zoveel ze wil, maar het is bijna alsof wij iets zouden zeggen over het gebruik van kamelen in de Sahara.’

In september 2012 kwam een Britse parlementaire commissie nog tot de conclusie dat de praktijk teveel risico’s inhoudt. Omdat de olieboringen enkel mogelijk zijn in de korte zomer, als er relatief weinig ijs is in het gebied, kan een lek op het verkeerde moment bovendien catastrofaal blijken. Als een olielek net voor de harde Arctische winter zou ontstaan, kan het tot de volgende zomer immers onmogelijk zijn om het lek te dichten, aldus de commissie.

Bron: IPS, Trouw 04.10.2012

 

Na 2400 jaar weer leven in meest noordelijke meer

Het Kaffeklubbenmeer op Groenland, het meest noordelijke meer ter wereld, begint na 2400 jaar te ontdooien. Daardoor komt er ook weer leven in het meer, stellen wetenschappers vast.

Het meer is een 48 ha groot en bevindt zich al 2400 jaar onder een 1 tot 2 meter dikke ijslaag.

Bron: Geology, IPS, Trouw 05/10/12

 

VS-overheid hield informatie achter over BP-ramp

Het Amerikaanse oceaan- en klimaatagentschap NOAA heeft tijdens de ramp met de Deepwater Horizon e-mails en foto’s van onder meer een dode walvis achtergehouden. Dat heeft de milieuorganisatie Greenpeace ontdekt.

Greenpeace kon in september 2012 beslag leggen op de documenten in het kader van de Amerikaanse wet op de Openbaarheid van Bestuur. Daaruit blijkt dat de ambtenaren van het NOAA de verwijzingen naar de ramp met de Deepwater Horizon in hun publieke rapportering over de vondst hebben verwijderd. Ook foto’s zijn achtergehouden.

‘Volgens biologen had deze regio voor de ramp een van de grootste en meest gezonde populaties van potvissen in de wereld’, zegt Kert Davies van Greenpeace. ‘Foto’s van een dode, jonge walvis herinneren ons eraan dat we nog altijd niet het volledige ecologische verhaal achter de ramp met de Deepwater Horizon kennen.’

Bron: IPS, Trouw, 25.10.2012

 

Shell voorlopig uitgeboord in Noordpoolgebied

Voor 2012 heeft Shell haar booractiviteiten voor de kust van Alaska gestaakt.

Shell had van de VS-autoriteiten tot eind oktober 2012 toestemming om proefboringen te doen. Het olieconcern is nu bezig zijn schepen en apparatuur naar warmere wateren te verplaatsen. Vanaf voorjaar 2013 staan meer boorwerkzaamheden op het programma.

Het was voor het eerst in twee decennia dat Shell naar gas en olie bij Alaska boorde. Het bedrijf kon uiteindelijk veel minder doen dan gepland. Het kampte met technische problemen, die milieuorganisaties dankbaar aangrepen om nog maar eens te wijzen op de risico’s van de boringen voor de natuur en de inheemse bevolking. Bron: ANP, Trouw, 31.10.2012

 

Landingsbaan van miljoenen op Zuidpool smelt

Australië moet op zoek naar een nieuwe landingsbaan voor vliegtuigen bij drie bases op de Zuidpool. De huidige baan smelt. De zogeheten Wilkins Runway is in het ijs uitgehakt voor vele miljoenen euro’s. Vliegtuigen kunnen er nu alleen landen als het minstens 5 graden vriest, maar dat komt steeds minder vaak voor. In plaats van de 20 geplande landingen, waren er slechts 2 in het seizoen 2010/11 en 4 in de vorige periode. ‘De stijgende temperatuur maakt het steeds lastiger om de baan in de toekomst te gebruiken’, zei directeur Tony Fleming, directeur van de Australian Government’s Antarctic Division. Bron: ANP, Trouw, 24.10.2012.

 

VS-Navy dolfijnen met pensioen

Dolfijnen en zeeleeuwen in dienst van de VS-marine raken hun baan kwijt. De dieren worden gebruikt voor het opsporen van zeemijnen. In 2017 wordt hun plek ingenomen door robots. Sinds de jaren 60 van de vorige eeuw zet de VS-marine zeezoogdieren in bij het opsporen van zeemijnen. Vooral dolfijnen zijn, vanwege hun sonarsysteem, hiervoor zeer geschikt. In de jaren 90 van de vorige eeuw was er zelfs sprake van dat de Amerikanen bezig zouden met het opleiden van ‘killer dolphins’. Dat plan is uiteindelijk in de prullenbak verdwenen. Als de dolfijnen met pensioen gaan, worden zij de rest van hun leven verzorgd in dolfinaria. Bron: Wikimedia, 08.11.2012.

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Antarctic ozone hole second smallest in 20 years

NOAA, NASA: Antarctic ozone hole second smallest in 20 years

October 24, 2012

Staff at the South Pole get ready to release a balloon.

Staff at the South Pole get ready to release a balloon that will carry an ozone instrument up to 20 miles in the atmosphere, measuring ozone levels all along the way. NOAA image from 2011.

Download here. (Credit: NOAA.)

Warmer air temperatures high above the Antarctic led to the second smallest seasonal ozone hole in 20 years, according to NOAA and NASA satellite measurements. This year, the average size of the ozone hole was 6.9 million square miles (17.9 million square kilometers). The ozone layer helps shield life on Earth from potentially harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation that can cause skin cancer and damage plants.

The Antarctic ozone hole forms in September and October, and this year, the hole reached its maximum size for the season on Sept. 22, stretching to 8.2 million square miles (21.2 million square kilometers), roughly the area of the United States, Canada and Mexico combined. In comparison, the largest ozone hole recorded to date was in 2000 at 11.5 million square miles (29.9 million square kilometers).

The Antarctic ozone hole began making a yearly appearance in the early 1980s, caused by chlorine released by manmade chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs. The chlorine can rapidly break apart ozone molecules in certain conditions, and the temperature of the lower stratosphere plays an important role.

“It happened to be a bit warmer this year high in the atmosphere above Antarctica, and that meant we didn’t see quite as much ozone depletion as we saw last year, when it was colder,” said Jim Butler with NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo.

Even 25 years after an international agreement was signed to regulate production of ozone-depleting chemicals, the ozone hole still forms each year. In fact, it could be another decade before scientists can detect early signs of Antarctic ozone layer recovery, according to a paper by NOAA researchers and colleagues published last year. The ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060, noted NASA atmospheric scientist Paul Newman.

Ozone levels at the South Pole continue to plummet every Antarctic spring.

Ozone levels at the South Pole continue to plummet every Antarctic spring, when a coincidence of environmental factors and manmade chemicals still in the atmosphere promote reactions that eat away at the protective ozone layer. This year (in yellow) ozone levels did not drop as low as they have in recent years.

Download here. (Credit: NOAA.)

The length of time needed for this full recovery is due in part to the large quantity and long lifetime of ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere. Climate change may also affect the rate of ozone recovery by cooling the stratosphere, which has several competing effects on ozone depletion.

Monitoring the ozone’s state remains important because the ozone layer acts as Earth’s natural shield from DNA-mutating UV radiation. Under the mandate of the Clean Air Act, NOAA and NASA scientists keep a close eye on the ozone layer’s health with satellite data, ground-based measurements and balloon-borne instruments.

A new ozone-monitoring instrument on Suomi-NPP weather satellite, the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite (OMPS), will be key to that effort. OMPS will extend the satellite record of ozone hole extent, which dates back to the early 1970s, and will provide more detail about ozone levels at various layers in the atmosphere and around the globe.

“OMPS Limb instrument looks sideways, and it can measure ozone as a function of height,” says Pawan Bhartia, NASA atmospheric physicist and OMPS instrument lead.
“This OMPS instrument allows us to more closely see the vertical development of Antarctic ozone depletion in the lower stratosphere where the ozone hole occurs.”

Balloon-borne and ground-based instruments provide ozone data when darkness prevents satellite observations. “The sun doesn’t rise above the South Pole horizon until about Sept. 22, by which time ozone depletion has already begun,” said NOAA atmospheric scientist Irina Petropavlovskikh.

NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us atwww.noaa.gov and join us on Facebook, Twitter and our other social media channels.

Source: NOAA, NASA: Antarctic ozone hole second smallest in 20 years.

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Arctic Combat – online game simulates war over Arctic resources

Webizen’s new online FPS (First Person Shooter) game, called Arctic Combat, is based on war over Arctic resources. According to the game’s prospectus:

“The conflict between the US and Russia rises more and more as past disputes are once again reminded. Battles have started in the Arctic region and is spreading across the world. World War III has begun.“

The game launches on December 6, 2012 & is said to be free.

View Trailer:

 

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Polo and Social27 Look to Promote Environmental Initiatives

Redmond, WA, October 24, 2012 –(PR.com)– Social27 announced today its ongoing dialogue with several environmental initiatives regarding the development of possible partnerships. One of Social27’s top priorities is sustainability so it is their pleasure to officially introduce to the world their mascot Polo the Polar Bear. Polo is a crucial part of the team, and with his assistance Social27 plans to take its commitment to being green to the next level. This will be done by hopefully creating said partnerships with the following organizations:

  • Conservation International – “Conservation International partners with governments on local, regional, and national levels around the world to deal with high priority areas of concern” including climate change, fresh water and food (www.conservation.org).
  • Nature Conservancy – The Nature Conservancy is “the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people” (www.nature.org).
  • Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium – Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium’s mission is to promote and practice “effective conservation on behalf of the world’s wildlife” (www.pdza.org).
  • Polar Bears International – Polar Bears International is a “nonprofit organization dedicated to the worldwide conservation of the polar bear and its habitat through research, education, and action” (www.polarbearsinternational.org).
  • Polar Conservation Organisation – Polar Conservation Organisation, located in Belgium, is “committed to working with and engaging industry players, communicating and educating the public and pressuring government organisations in the development of the necessary social, political and economic frameworks to ensure a sustainable future for both Polar Regions” (www.polarconservation.org)

A portion of Social27’s earnings will be donated on our Client’s behalf to the organization of their choice. “Be Green, Go Virtual” is not simply a tagline. It’s a declaration to Social27’s customers and partners that our company is working towards reducing its carbon footprint. From minimizing business travel to reducing the use of printed materials, virtual events are a positive solution in helping the environment. Social27 is looking forward to building its relationship with Conservation International, Nature Conservancy, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, Polar Bears International, and Polar Conservation Organisation in the very near future.

About Social27:
Social27 is a leading Social Business software company. The Social27 platform powers solutions focused on digital events, eLearning , virtual job fairs and online communities. Millions of people at the world’s largest companies are using our products, internally and externally, to transform their businesses. We bring the hottest social collaboration technologies from the B2C world into the enterprise.

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Tullow Oil Plans Arctic Exploration Drilling

Shares in Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) gained 14 percent and closed at £14.18 on Monday after the FTSE 100 group announced it is going to join the race for oil riches in the Arctic.

Tullow Oil Platform

Maersk and Tullow Partnership

On 15 October The Telegraph reported that Tullow Oil has taken a 40 percent equity position in Block 9 – a giant 11,802 sq km license in Baffin Bay, to the northwest of Greenland. Naalakkersuisut, Greenland’s government, has approved the agreement between Maersk Oil (CPH:MAERSK-A) and Tullow in which the Danish company will continue to act as operator of the license with its 47.5 percent interest, while Greenland’s Nunaoil will hold 12.5 percent.

Maersk Oil has already conducted a seismic survey of some 1,850 sq km and will decide on whether to drill in the area by 2014 after analysing the 3D seismic data. Both companies assured no drilling will take place until it has been established there is no risk to the fragile Arctic Environment. “We are very pleased to be partnering with Maersk Oil and Nunaoil in this unexplored and highly prospective province. Our complementary skills and expertise will allow us to evaluate fully the potential of it in the initial seismic phase,” said Tullow’s exploration director Angus McCoss.

British-Based Oil Company Develops African Licenses While Planning Arctic Venture Tullow shares the ambitions of oil giants such as Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron to tap into the suspected 90 billion reserves of crude oil in the Arctic – almost three times the annual global consumption.

Mauritania Natural Gas Project

According to Tim O’Hanlon, vice president of Tullow’s African business, the UK-based explorer will start working on a natural gas project in Mauritania as soon as talks with potential buyers are finished. Construction of pipelines for the Banda gas field and other necessary facilities are scheduled to begin by the end of next year and gas production is planned for late 2014 or early 2015 said Mr O’Hanlon as reported by Bloomberg.

Banda reserves are estimated to be around 500 billion cubic feet and some of the natural gas production is meant for a future Mauritanian power-plant.

Tullow to Begin Third Well in Kenya

The British explorer and its Canadian partner Africa Oil Corp (CVE:AOI) have started drilling a third well in Kenya in an attempt to discover further reserves in the east African country. The well is known as Paipai-1 and has a planned total depth of 4,112 meters with predicted reserves of 121 million barrels of oil. The companies hope to find crude oil as opposed to more natural gas.

Paipai-1 is an onshore drilling site in Block 10A – Tullow acts as operator with 50 percent share followed by Africa Oil with 30 percent and London-listed Afren with the remaining 20 percent.

Tullow Oil is also awaiting results from another oil drill in Twiga-1, which are expected by the end of the month.

If there is an oil discovery, the companies will most probably spur heavy investment in Kenyan infrastructure projects such as refineries and pipelines.

Kenya’s energy minister Kiraitu Murungi believes his country has enough oil to accommodate the needs of the oil ventures. “We are becoming the new Middle East,” said Mr Murungi at a conference earlier this year.

Source: Tullow Oil Plans Arctic Exploration Drilling.

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Arctic probe into solar storm sat-nav disruption

Scientists in the Arctic have launched an urgent investigation into how solar storms can disrupt sat-nav.

Studies have revealed how space weather can cut the accuracy of GPS by tens of metres.

Flares from the Sun interact with the upper atmosphere and can distort the signals from global positioning satellites.

The research is pressing because rapid warming is attracting more vessels, tourists and mining operators.

The project is under way at a remote observatory on a windswept mountainside in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard in the High Arctic.

Northern Lights near TromsoThe northern lights are one familiar effect of solar storms

The most familiar effect of solar storms is the creation – when the Sun’s particles strike the Earth’s magnetic field – of the beautiful Northern Lights.

But the scientists are hoping to understand the impact on satellite signals and then to try to develop a system for forecasting the most damaging effects of space weather.

The site was chosen for its isolation from electronic pollution and for its position in relation to the Earth’s magnetic field which flows from space down towards the far North.

Violent solar activity has long been known to pose risks to satellites in orbit and to electricity networks. Aircraft flight-paths are usually altered to avoid the most northerly areas.

Less well understood is the distorting effect of the Sun on the ionosphere which GPS radio transmissions have to pass through on their way to sat-nav receivers on the ground.

Professor Dag Lorentzen shows David Shukman how solar storms affect the Earth’s magnetic field

“It’s like the twinkling of the stars,” according to Professor Dag Lorentzen of the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS).

“If you’re standing outside looking at the night sky, some of the stars are twinkling as the intensity of the light changes – and this is basically the same for a sat receiver seeing the signal from a GPS satellite.”

The effect, known as scintillation, is most acute at northerly latitudes but can even be observed in periods of quiet solar activity.

During our visit to the observatory, no solar storm was under way but the station’s GPS receivers were inaccurate by between 1-3 metres when compared with the site’s known location.

This is the result of the normal flow of the solar wind disturbing the upper atmosphere in high latitudes – while a solar storm can produce a far larger effect.

Opening up

Professor Lorentzen said: “If you have a very large solar storm, you can get a distortion of up to tens of metres.

“It’s absolutely important to understand why this is happening so that if we know that we have a solar storm, then we might be able to predict the deviation or accuracy of the GPS signal in the future.”

This matters as the retreat of Arctic ice opens up the region to new activities including oil drilling, shipping and tourism – all of which require highly accurate navigation especially for search and rescue.

But signal distortion has also been observed at much lower latitudes during solar storms so may have more widespread implications.

Dr Lisa Baddeley, another UNIS scientist working on the project, is in charge of an installation known as SPEAR, which stands for Space Plasma Exploration by Active Radar.

Dr Lisa Baddeley shows David Shukman around the observatory site

This is an array of 48 giant aerials, originally built by Leicester University but now run by UNIS. The aerials work in concert to transmit a 16MW radio beam into the upper atmosphere to mimic the effects of a solar flare.

By firing the beam into the ionosphere and measuring its effects on the particles there, Dr Baddeley and colleagues can probe the mechanisms of solar interference.

“Everyone has satnav in their cars – it’s something we take almost for granted,” she told me.

“What we need to research is how these GPS systems are affected by solar storms and this huge amount of energy coming into the Earth.”

Bear threat

Similar arrays, such as a much powerful one known as HAARP run by the US in Alaska, have attracted controversy with questions about their true purpose. Last year a retired Russian general speculated that Russia’s Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars went wrong because of the influence of HAARP.

Scientists involved in the projects have always dismissed the allegations as ludicrous.

Dr Baddeley explained that the Svalbard array is shut down by the control tower of the local airport whenever an aircraft approaches so any risk is negligible.

A more immediate hazard is posed by the Arctic wildlife. Throughout our interview, amid the field of masts, she kept a rifle slung over her shoulder – standard practice for anyone working in the open here because of the threat of polar bears.

Our visit took place during late summer but the installation has to be maintained year round including the dark days of winter.

“In the depths of the polar night,” Dr Baddeley said, “when it’s pitch black, and minus 20, it’s reassuring to have the gun.

“And I sometimes bring a dog because dogs are the best for looking out for polar bears.”

This is science at its toughest. But the more satnav becomes the electronic backbone of so much of modern life, the more valuable will be the findings gathered on this lonely hillside.

BBC News – Arctic probe into solar storm sat-nav disruption.

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Europe rejects ban on Arctic oil drilling

The European parliament’s industry committee has rejected attempts to introduce a moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling in the Arctic, overruling a contrary vote by its environment committee last month.

The key vote in the industry committee yesterday (9 October) instead proposed a new directive to ensure that companies have “adequate financial security” to cover the liabilities that could be incurred by any accidents.

Drilling companies would also have to submit to national authorities a safety hazard and emergency response report at least 24 weeks before the planned start of operations.

A plenary vote in December will now consider one surviving amendment from the environment committee vote, which would impel member states to refrain from licencing drills unless an effective accident response can be guaranteed.

The European Commission had initially proposed a binding EU-wide regulation, but the industry committee’s vote instead plumped for a directive, which member states can choose how to enforce according to their regional standards.

“Questions have been raised about the significant revocation and amendments of existing equivalent national legislation and guidance [a regulation] might entail,” said the parliamentary rapporteur, Ivo Belet (European People’s Party).

“Such redrafting would divert scarce resources from the safety assessments and inspections on the field,” he added.

British oil industry representatives used similar arguments, according to minutes of a stakeholder peer review meeting at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

“Implementing the Regulation would tie-up considerable resources in both industry and regulators … taking them away from the ‘front line’ where the hazards are,” representatives of Oil and Gas UK said.

After that meeting, the head of the European Commission’s coal and oil unit, Jan Panek, invited the Oil and Gas UK representatives to a separate bilateral meeting on the legal instrument and requirements in the regulation, which took place in April 2012.

Tip of the iceberg

Environmentalists suspect that this was the tip of a lobby iceberg. “This vote had the fingerprints of oil lobby all over it,” Greenpeace spokesman Joris den Blanken told EurActiv.

Amid intense industry lobbying, EurActiv has learned that the oil giant Chevron offered MEPs on the committee a free trip to its offshore Alba platform on 12-14 July, involving two nights stay in an Aberdeen hotel, helicopter trips to the platform, and several briefings.

But a Chevron representative informed EurActiv that the trip had not in fact gone ahead, due to “organisational reasons” on which she declined to elaborate.

Ivo Belet’s office said that he had “had the intention” of going on the package, but instead visited a platform in the Netherlands on a paid-for trip to GDF Suez’s K12B gas-producing platform which utilises carbon capture and storage techniques.

In March 2011, another shadow rapporteur on the committee, Vicky Ford (European Conservatives and Reformists), who tabled more than half of the 642 amendments on the report, visited a rig off the coast of Aberdeen paid for by the oil company ConocoPhillips.

Such trips are considered necessary and educational for legislators, and may not be luxurious, but environmentalists are wary of undue influence when MEPs adopt positions close to the industry’s interests.

A spokesperson at Ford’s office said that she had registered her trip on her European Parliament online declaration of interests but it was not mentioned there at the time of writing.

Camel operations in the Sahara

Oil producing countries such as Norway also pushed hard for the proposed regulation to be transmuted into a directive, because of the “massive administrative burden” and “complicated legal questions” it could raise, according to a Norwegian position paper, seen by EurActiv.

Norway’s deputy oil and energy minister, Per Rune Henriksen, went further, arguing that for the EU to claim jurisdiction over the Arctic by banning drills there “would almost be like us commenting on a camel operations in the Sahara.”

The EU sees itself as an actor in the Arctic because three EU countries have territory in the Arctic – Denmark, Finland and Sweden – while Iceland is an EU candidate.

The EU has in return applied for an enhanced observer seat on the Arctic Council, partly because climate change is a transboundary issue, affecting European weather patterns and fish stocks alike.

Gustaf Lind, the Arctic Council’s current chair, told EurActiv that “of course, as we have EU members, we can all say that we’re positive, very positive [towards the EU's application] but we try to avoid reviewing specific applications in the media.”

Arctic resource race

The EU’s application comes as the continent’s ice has melted to its lowest level ever, carving the pristine region open for a resource race.

The US Geological Survey says that the region could be home to 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of its undiscovered gases, and gold and diamond mining companies also view its prospects with relish.

Arctic nations often bemoan a perceived southern hypocrisy that would prevent them from enjoying the same economic benefits from fossil fuel production that others have done.

Oil extracted from the Arctic emits no more greenhouse gas than that produced anywhere else but the region’s remote and hostile terrain could make rescue operations treacherous in the event of an accident.

Arctic futures

Gunnar Wiegand, a director at the EU’s External Affairs Action Service, told an Arctic Futures Symposium in Brussels on 4 October that he hoped EU legislation could inspire Arctic nations to firmer environmental legislation.

“The acquis [accumulated legislation] in the Arctic Council doesn’t go as far as any of the environmental legislation of the EU,” he said.

Maria Damanaki, the EU’s maritime commissioner, told the same conference that as the continent’s ice thawed, new opportunities could arise.

“Offshore drilling in the Arctic now becomes a viable option for big oil companies,” she said. “Arctic reserves could hold enough oil and gas to meet global demand for several years. This is a need the world economy has.”

“Though we may be greening the world economy, oil and gas remain vital for us and will do for some years,” she added.

Scientists are more concerned that the Arctic ice melt could raise sea levels, accelerate global warming by reducing the region’s ice reflectivity of solar heat, and change Gulf Stream currents.

If the Arctic’s summer ice melts completely, some scientists fear that methane hydrates currently frozen on the seabed could be released, causing a runaway and unstoppable greenhouse effect.

Europe rejects ban on Arctic oil drilling | Environment | guardian.co.uk.

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Russian scientist predicts riches for Canada & Russia once a deal is agreed

ST. PETERSBURG – The scientist responsible for preparing Russia’s claim to seabed rights at the top of the world says Canada and his country are both poised to reap staggering economic benefits when a deal on who owns title to what in the northern ocean is finally struck.

“Canada has a wonderful shelf and basin, so of course Canada can get very rich from this,” said Victor Posyolov, deputy director of Russia’s Institute of World Ocean Geology and the head of its Arctic research program.

Poring over maps tracking the evidence that he is amassing for Russia’s claim, Posyolov estimated that his country, with the longest Arctic coastline, would gain rights to about 1.2 million square kilometres of seabed. He reckoned Canada would get about 800,000 square kilometres of sub-surface territory. That would be about twice as much seabed as the other claimants, Denmark and the United States, are likely to get.

“The biggest shelves and basins are in Canadian waters and it will benefit the most. The U.S. and Denmark have modest sectors,” Posyolov said in a room dominated by a circumpolar map that Canada and Russia jointly produced in 1992.

“We are not involved in studies of how much oil and gas may lie in the Danish, Canadian and U.S. sectors, but there is open data using different methods to make forecasts. Every country knows or imagines that there are reserves there.”

Much has been made of the potentially overlapping claims for the Arctic, but Posyolov foresees little possibility of conflict. There already is “an approximate plan for the division of the Arctic that is not in dispute,” the oceanologist said. It was based on the principle that exclusive economic zones extend out 200 nautical miles (332 kilometres) from each coastal state’s shoreline.

The grey area was beyond the 200-mile limit. To claim sub-surface rights beyond that point, a country has to prove that a geographic link exists between its land mass and adjacent underwater formations that may extend far out to sea. Much of the research pertains to a formation known as the Lomonosov Ridge, which snakes under the ocean for much of the distance between Russia, Canada and Greenland.

Based on standard geographic principles involving equidistance, Russia and Canada would likely agree to split the Lomonosov Ridge at or near its middle. Posyolov suggested it was far more likely that Canada and Denmark would have a difference of opinion over the ridge where it runs closest to Greenland and Canada’s Ellesmere Island.

Russia submitted a claim in 2001 to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, which makes recommendations about who is entitled to what. The commission asked Moscow to provide additional data for the Lomonosov Ridge and the adjacent Mendeleev Rise.

While the Lomonosov and Mendeleev formations are central to Russia’s claim to much of the top of the world, Posyolov acknowledged that the UN “might declare the North Pole belongs to all humanity and that the area 60 miles around the North Pole belongs to no country.”

To prepare its claim, Russia has undertaken five separate polar expeditions since 2002, the last of which ends this month. Conducting such research has not been cheap. Each mission had involved two icebreakers and cost between $20 million and $30 million, Posyolov said. To share costs, the Danes had asked for Russia’s help with icebreakers while Canada has been working with the U.S., he said.

Tracing a red line that reached far out into the ocean on one of the maps on his desk, Posyolov said that was the rough extent of Russia’s claim. It was based on 13,000 kilometres of bathymetric studies of the underwater depths of the Arctic, 7,000 kilometres of seismic studies of the sea floor as well as research based on multi-beam echo soundings and studies that involved reflection and refraction waves.

Having already submitted a claim to the UN commission, Russia was at the front of the queue. Its revised claim is to be presented in 2013. Denmark and Canada will follow by the end of 2014. The U.S. position is unclear as Washington is not yet a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas, whose membership elects the commission on the limits of the continental shelf.

“We present our materials and they say whether they are well-based, convincing and correspond to the UN convention,” Posyolov said. Each country could also say whether its claim was harmed by the claim of another country.

Headlines proclaiming a modern day Gold Rush to stake claims in the Far North badly missed the mark, Posyolov said. As an example of how long it can take to sort such issues out, he cited Norwegian and Russian claims that had taken three decades to resolve.

There are already 51 sea claims before the UN commission. As only about three of them are examined each year, Posyolov guessed that unless the process is somehow accelerated, it would be several decades before the pending Arctic claims were resolved.

© Copyright: Postmedia News

Read more: http://www.canada.com/Canada+Russia+will+share+Arctic+riches+scientist+predicts/7358861/story.html#ixzz28kZg9JQI

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Canadian company pitches $600M fibre optic cable project in Arctic – Business – CBC News

 

Arctic Ocean

An Ontario company, called Arctic Fibre, has applied for Canadian government permits to land a fibre optic cable via the Northwest Passage connecting some but not all of the Canadian Arctic communities. The Cable would stretch from Japan to Newfoundland and then down to the US.

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Hello world!

Welcome to the all new PCO website.

Here you will find all sorts of information related to the Polar Regions, both Antarctic and Arctic.

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The forecast for Amundsen-Scott, Antarctica by Wunderground for WordPress