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editor Kris Molle
last update: Sep 07, 2010
by Raven
last update: Sep 07, 2010
Froma publication of ESA - Observing the Earth: ESA's Envisat satellite has been tracking the progression of the giant iceberg that calved from Greenland's Petermann glacier on 4 August 2010. This animation shows that the iceberg, the largest in the northern hemisphere, is now entering Nares Strait – a stretch of water that connects the Lincoln Sea and Arctic Ocean with Baffin Bay.
The Petermann glacier in northern Greenland is one of the largest of the country's glaciers – and until August it had a 70 km tongue of floating ice extending out into the sea. The glacier regularly advances towards the sea at about 1 km per year.
Earlier this year, satellite images revealed that several cracks had appeared. Envisat radar images showed that the ice tongue was still intact on 3 August but, on 4 August, a huge chunk had detached.
Calvings from the Petermann glacier are quite common, but one of this magnitude is rare. Less significant events took place in 2001, in 2008 when a 27 sq km iceberg made its way south to Davis Strait, and in 2009.
This iceberg is about 30 km long and 15 km wide at its foot and almost 7 km wide at its head, covering an area of around 245 sq km. By 22 August this giant mass of ice had been carried about 22 km from its birth place.
On 1 September imagery showed that the iceberg had travelled almost another 6 km from the edge of the glacier and rotated westward (about 39°), just tipping into Nares Strait. The animation also shows that the iceberg hit a small island, which may delay further progression for a short while and may also cause the iceberg to break.
It is expected that the iceberg will soon be fully in Nares Strait, but its course depends on winds blowing off the glacier and currents in the strait, as well as sea ice that could block its path.
The animation was generated from 21 Envisat Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) Wide Swath Mode (spatial resolution 150 m × 150 m) and three ASAR Image Mode (spatial resolution 30 m × 30 m) images.
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ESA, 7th September 2010
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by Raven
last update: Sep 07, 2010
From a "CBC News" article: This week, two monuments will be unveiled in the High Arctic to recognize Inuit who were forced to live in Canada's most northerly settlements in the 1950s.
John Duncan, Indian and Northern Affairs Minister, is expected to join about 40 government officials and Inuit leaders in the Nunavut communities of Resolute and Grise Fiord for the monument unveilings, slated for Wednesday and Friday, respectively.
The monuments were commissioned by Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., an Inuit land-claims organization, to "commemorate the sacrifices made by Inuit who were relocated to these communities." James Eetoolook, acting president of the organization, told CBC News "They had to compromise a lot with leaving their loved ones because of unfulfilled promises by the federal government."
In 1953 and 1956, under the federal government's High Arctic relocation program, 87 Inuit from Inukjuak, Que., were transported by ship about 1,200 kilometres to Resolute and Grise Fiord. Three other families, from Pond Inlet, Nunavut, were also moved north to help the Inukjuak families adjust to their new environments.
Many believe the Inuit, commonly dubbed the High Arctic Exiles, were transplanted in the High Arctic to help bolster Canada's sovereignty over the North during the Cold War. Since then, the federal government has acknowledged that it failed to give the settlers adequate shelter and supplies during their first winter and they also has admitted it did not act on its promise to move the Inuit back to Quebec if they did not want to stay in the High Arctic after one or two years.
Last month,Duncan made a formal apology to the relocated families during a ceremony in Inukjuak, saying the government had made "significant promises" that were not kept.
Local sculptors in Grise Fiord and Resolute were commissioned by Nunavut Tunngavik to work on the stone monuments.
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CBC News, 6th September 2010
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by Raven
last update: Sep 07, 2010
From various articles: According to a survey released today, Japanese public schools are reintroducing whale meat in their lunch menus at low prices to expand consumption.
According to the survey, conducted by Kyodo News, 5,355 schools, or 18 per cent of public elementary and junior high schools nationwide offering lunches for students responded they had served whale meat in their lunches at least once in fiscal 2009 through March 2010.
The Institute of Cetacean Research, which undertakes the government’s research whaling, provided whale meat to local municipalities for school lunch use at one-third of the market price. The survey said that whale meat is made available as some whaling towns are trying to pass on traditional food culture to children.
Japan, which wants to resume commercial whaling, is hoping to increase consumption of whale meat as meat stocks of whales captured by the institute in its research mission have piled up to around 4,000 tons.
At the peak of the whaling, the annual amount of meat supplied in Japan totaled around 220,000 tons in 1962, but plunged sharply to around 1,000 tons in the 1990s after an international ban on commercial whaling was introduced in the 1980s, which resulted that whale meat menus, which often appeared in school lunches in the 1970s, disappeared.
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The Hindu, 5th September 2010
Japan Times, 4th September 2010
Philippines News.Net, 5th September 2010
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by Raven
last update: Sep 07, 2010
From a "Reuters Africa" article: Earlier this week, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced that Norway and Russia have agreed to a final delineation of their Arctic maritime border and will sign a treaty next week.
This follows the initial agreemeent which was signed in April by Stoltenberg and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on the border after four decades of negotiations, paving the way to open the potentially oil- and gas-rich region for offshore exploration.
Stoltenberg told Norwegian state broadcaster NRK "There is agreement on exactly where the boundary line should be and on cooperation in the region, including on energy. This is what we shall sign and make public next week. That we have in place an agreement, means we can open up for business in this area."
This new border deal gives Norway a chance to extend its oil boom as North Sea reserves are depleted but Stoltenberg said it would be years before the region is opened up for oil and gas activities.
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Reuters Africa, 6th September 2010
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First supertanker sails route from Russia to China via Arctic
The "Baltica", a giant Russian commercial supertanker is carrying 70,000 tons of gas from Murmansk in Russia for Ningbo in China along a route normally sailed only by smaller cargo vessels, cutting the route by almost 5000 miles. The other possitive thing is that there are no sea pirates in the Arctic.
According to The Alaska Dispatch; experts believe that a tanker sailing from Murmansk to Shanghai could save $1 million in fuel and get there in 22 days instead of 42. The only setback is that the route through the Arctic Circle is only navigable for two to three months each summer.
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USA Today, 2nd September 2010
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Fuel tanker has run aground in the far north of Canada
Larry Trigatti, the Canadian coastguard's superintendent of environmental response for the area, said that the vessel is stuck in the Northwest Passage but is not currently leaking as no damage has been reported and the ship is not taking on water.
The tanker was on its way to re-supply remote communities when it struck a sandbar southwest of the town of Gjoa Haven in Canada's Nunavut territory. An official said that the ship's owner, Woodward's Oil, plans to float it off the sandbar.
Less ice means navigation has become easier and oil drilling companies potentially have easier access to the sea floor.
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SkyNews, 2nd September 2010
Associated Press / Google, 2nd September 2010
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Anti-whaling game
Ship Simulator Extremes is the name of a new PC game, created by Greenpeace and a Netherlands-based video game developer, allows players to take control of famous Greenpeace ships and re-enact real-life campaigns on the high seas.
Confrontations, which took place in real life Greenpeace campaigns off the southern coast of Australia require players to save whales from Japanese whaling vessels.
Greenpeace International spokesman Daniel Kessler says players are required to hassle the Japanese whaling fleet using "non-violent" actions. "The simulator... reinforces our commitment to peaceful direct action," he said. "If you ram a whaler, for instance, your game is over."
Mr Kessler says Greenpeace became involved in the project so it could promote its environmental message to a new audience.
Jeffrey Brand, the head of Bond University's school of communication and media studies, says the game may be one of the first to feature a political message from a non-government organisation. He said "Many games are now being used for advertising and commercial messages... but you don't see very many blatantly political or cause-related games." he said. "The medium is increasingly a viable channel through which to carry different kinds of messages, whether they be political, commercial or indeed simple entertainment messages," he aded.
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ABC News, 1st September 2010
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Argentina buys two Russian helicopters
The agreement was signed by Argentine and Russian officials, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The Mi-17 helicopters have capacity to transport 26 passengers and 5 tons of external load, have floaters for emergency water-landing, cargo cranes for upload and download in the deck of vessels and supplementary tanks for long-range operations.
The purchase of these helicopters was done as a "government to government" contract and it includes the training of the crew and mechanics when the helicopters will arrive in Argentina in September 2011.
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CRI English, 2nd September 2010
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Greenpeace forced drilling stop off Greenland
The 1,650-feet (500-meter) security perimeter around the Stena Don rig off western Greenland was breached, triggering an automatic shutdown of the rig's operations according to police spokesman Morten Nielsen, who spoke to The Associated Press. He also added that the activists are still on the rig and will be arrested.
"When someone breaks the law, and it has happened here, the person or persons will be prosecuted," Nielsen said by telephone from Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.
Greenland Premier Kuupik Kleist called Greenpeace's stunt an "openly illegal act" and a "gross violation" of safety rules. "It is really worrying that Greenpeace uses all means to break the safety rules made to protect human lives and the environment in its quest for media coverage," Kleist said in a statement.
Cairn said in a statement that safety was its top priority.
"The actions taken by Greenpeace are primarily a matter for the Greenlandic authorities and Cairn will work with these authorities as they seek to deal with the matter in the most appropriate way," the company said.
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Associated Press / Google, 31st August 2010
Upstream Online, 31st August 2010
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ICESat mission ends successfully
It burned up in the atmosphere on its way back to earth and some debris from the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation satellite (ICESat), fell into the Barents Sea north of Norway and Russia at approximately 5 a.m. EDT Monday. This information came from the Orbital Debris Program Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
NASA officials said that the craft's lasting legacy will be its impact on the understanding of ice sheet and sea ice dynamics as the ICESat mission has led to scientific advances in measuring changes in the mass of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, polar sea ice thickness, vegetation-canopy heights, and the heights of clouds and aerosols.
Jay Zwally, ICESat's project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said "ICESat has been a tremendous scientific success. It has provided detailed information on how the Earth's polar ice masses are changing with climate warming, as needed for government policy decisions."
"Thanks to ICESat we now also know that the Antarctic ice sheet is not losing as much ice as some other studies have shown," Zwally said.
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MSNBC.com, 31st August 2010
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Franklin's final resting place not found
The failure to find his final resting place deepens of the most enduring mysteries of the Arctic.
John Franklin set sail from England with 134 men aboard two ships, the Terror and Erebus in May 1845, to search for the fabled Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic to the Pacific Ocean, and most of them were never heard from again.
A six-man Canadian government survey team, supported by the Canadian Coast Guard vessel the Sir Wilfrid Laurier and its near 50-man crew, last week surveyed hundreds of square miles of frigid sea floor hoping to succeed where some 100 other expeditions failed, discovering the fate of the ships and a crew whose demise has been attributed to factors from lead poisoning to cannibalism.
Ryan Harris, a government archeologist who is leading this summer's search said "for Canadians, the disappearance is "a Victorian gothic horror story that played out across the Arctic."
When Franklin and his crew disappeared, some 36 expeditions, financed mostly through Franklin's wife and the British Navy, sought the lost crew but to no avail. The bodies of some sailors, some in formal graves that identified the crew members by name and some sailors' possessions and other relics were discovered. When in 1859, a Royal Navy search party found a message under a cairn on King William Island that detailed how the crew had abandoned their ships after being trapped in ice for a year and that Franklin had died in 1847 and the remaining crew would head to Back's River, hundreds of miles to the south, the British gave up the search. But not the Canadians, as in the 1960s, it has sent its army to look and amateurs have put fortunes and lives on the line after catching what they call the "Franklin bug."
The mystery remains.
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Wall Street Journal, 31st August 2010
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Sea Shepherd Activist Pete Bethune returns home
Bethune was arrested and taken back to Japan after confronting with the Japanese whaling vessel called Shonan Maru #2. Now four months later and after spending half a million dollars in legal fees, Pete Bethune was greeted by his wife, Sharyn, and their two daughters, Danielle, 15, and Alycia, 13, in New Zealand.
Initially, Bethune was sentenced for 2 years in Japanese prison for the involvement in direct clashes with Japanese whalers, but the sentence was suspended after four months.
In his press conference, Pete Bethune clearly stated that he doesn't feel any regret at all for what he did in the Antarctic waters as he attempted to invoke the realization in the government that whaling should be stopped.
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All Voices, 28th August 2010
Right Celebrity, 27th August 2010
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Cruise ship stuck in the Arctic Ocean
The MV Clipper Adventurer was en route from Port Epworth to Kugluktuk, Nunavut, when it grounded on an uncharted rock in the northwest Arctic and although the crew tried to dislodge the vessel during high tide on Saturday, it was unsuccessful.
Luckily, no passengers or crew were injured and although the 90-metre vessel was sitting on a slight list, it is stable according to the Mississauga, Ontario-based cruise company said.
According to the company's website, the Clipper Adventure is "among the very few vessels in the world specifically constructed for expedition voyages to the far reaches of this remote land," the site says. "Her ice-strengthened hull permits her to glide easily and safely through ice-strewn waters that are not accessible to conventional cruise vessels."
Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen took passengers to Kugluktuk, a small town on the shore of the Arctic Ocean, where accommodations had been arranged by the cruise ship company. They were then expected to fly to the Canadian city of Edmonton.
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Toronto Sun, 29th August 2010
CNN, 30th August 2010
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Sanctuary for Beluga whales in Beaufort Sea
Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that they are establishing theTarium Niryutait Marine Protected Area, a 1,800 square kilometre space in the mouth of the Mackenzie River Delta and the Beaufort Sea
Every summer, the world's largest seasonal population of Beluga whales gather in the sea to socialize, feed and raise their calves.
According to Harper it's important to protect the "Arctic treasures" as well as the harvesting traditions of Inuvialuit groups in Aklavik, Inuvik and Tuktoyaktuk. He said "It balances ecologial and conservation imperatives with the social and economic needs of the people who live in this region. It balances the beluga harvesting traditions of Inuvialuit with the protection of a species which is threatened or endangered in other parts of the world."
This marine protected area will be the first of its kind in the Arctic ocean.
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HQ Yellowknife, 31st August 2010
Vancouver Sun, 27th August 2010
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Canadian PM denounces EU seal product ban
According to Harper, the ban discriminates against Canadian sealers, who are hardworking people of modest means. "This is flagrant discrimination against the Canadian seal industry, against Canadian sealers ... people who are doing animal husbandry, no differently than many other industries," he said after the announcement. Harper called the EU's decision a disgrace, that was not based on rational facts.
The ban was to be implemented Friday but has been suspended because of a European General Court of Justice decision on a challenge launched by a Canadian Inuit group arguing that it threatens their livelihood.
The Canadian government will ask the World Trade Organization this fall to establish a dispute settlement panel that would consider whether the EU ban complies with WTO rules. This comes after Canada already filing a complaint with the WTO arguing the ban, adopted by 27 European countries earlier this year, is a violation of the EU's trade obligations.
The sealing industry on Canada's East Coast has steadily dwindled in recent years amid the global recession, the vocal animal rights protests and the looming European ban. Fewer hunters went out last year because pelt prices bottomed out at $14 compared to more than $100 a skin only a few years ago. A pelt is now valued at around $23-$25.
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Business Week, 19th August 2010
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Norwegian watchdog seeks better spill prevention
The director general of the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, Magne Ognedal, told Reuters in an interview that oil companies aiming to tap the riches of Norway's Arctic waters will have to invest in additional safety measures. "We asked the OLF (Norway's oil industry lobby) to look into the possibility of developing equipment that could handle subsea blowouts regardless of water depths. They will need to look for better technologies to help detect a leak on subsea installations. We are looking for improvements in that area."
Norway is is Europe's second-largest energy exporter and already has some of the toughest safety regulations in the world.
Norway is asking oil companies to have an additional safety device on a blow-out preventer, a measure not required in the United States but which many say would have prevented BP's Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to Ognedal, an international meeting of oil safety watchdogs would be held in Washington DC on September 8-9, on the initiative of his office, to address the blowouts in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Australia.
"There are special safety issues that need to be addressed (in the Arctic)," Ognedal said. "New equipment will need to be made available ... and we will need new designs for installations."
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Reuters, 19th August 2010
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Government apologises for Inuit relocation to High Arctic
John Duncan, the newly appointed Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, says the government is sorry for relocating 19 Inuit families from Northern Quebec in the 1950s. They were moved with three families from Pond Inlet to help the them adapt to the barren landscape of Resolute Bay and Grise Fiord, where temperatures were 20 degrees below to what they were used to.
According to INAC, the 19 families were not prepared for their new climate, and were left to live in "flimsy tents with inadequate food and supplies." Duncan said in his speech in Inukjuak, Quebec "The Government of Canada deeply regrets the mistakes and broken promises of this dark chapter of our history and apologizes for the High Arctic relocation having taken place."
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HQYellowknife.com, 19th August 2010
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Polar bears a threat to migratory birds
This causes increased problems, for instance in Canada, this has led to a higher number of Polar bear - human interactions whilst on the island of Svalbard, north of Europe, it has placed another species, the Barnacle geese, in danger.
Barnacle geese on Svalbard spend their summers nesting on the island. The birds are infrequent breeders and even if they do lay eggs, the typically small clutch sizes mean that only a few chicks join the flock each year. Now their low breeding rate is facing a new challenge: Hungry polar bears.
This year, it is known that 10 polar bears were stranded on the island after Arctic ice melted. Hungry and trapped, the marauding bears began feeding on the eggs of the barnacle geese, observers saw one bear eating more than 1,000 eggs.
60 years ago, the goose population on Svalbard had dipped below 300 and after decades of conservation work, the population has climbed above 30,000. However, this most recent threat, however, could jeopardize that seemingly robust number.
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Treehugger, 18th August 2010
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Canada's military Arctic exercise to include U.S.and Denmark
Capt. Tanya Thordarson, the military's deputy commanding officer in Resolute, said that this three-nation exercise is a chance to share knowledge. "Well, some of these other countries also have expertise in doing these types of operations in the North, or they want to learn from us because we have more expertise than them. So, it's kind of a collaboration and a dual learning process, if you will."
According to Jim Hordinski, a chief warrant officer with the United States Navy, Canadians are experts in Arctic operations. "Anything we can learn from them is of great value to us, just to make us better all around. "For us, it's been a huge learning experience in as far as logistics with our movements up here, exercising our cold-weather gear, our cold-weather operating procedures,something we don't do a lot of in Virginia Beach."
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CBC News, 18th August 2010
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National Science Foundation's research vessel ready by 2014
At long last, their dream ship soon will become a reality. Matthew J. Hawkins, program officer for ship acquisition in the National Science Foundation’s division of ocean sciences said “It’s going to be a great tool for science. It is definitely a next generation research vessel, the first of its kind.”
The R/V Sikuliaq, a 254-foot oceanographic research ship, expected to be one of the most advanced university research vessels in the world, likely will be ready for use by 2014, with construction scheduled to begin in October.
The name Sikuliaq, pronounced “see-KOO-lee-auk,” is an Inupiat word that refers to “young ice,” “new ice,” or “thin ice,” and describes ice without snow that is safe to walk on. The new vessel will be able to break ice as thick as three feet, and navigate in seasonal sea ice and open ocean waters near Alaska, including the Chukchi, Beaufort and Bering Seas, as well as the eastern Arctic.
“Changing Arctic climate may well be one of the critical drivers for climate change over the entire planet,” Hawkins said. “All of these scientific missions and activities are of continuing interest and great importance, not only to the U.S., but also to the economic and environmental welfare of the entire globe.”
“Along with the significant ecosystem changes and impact on coastal communities, this change could impact national security and commerce by providing regular trade routes further into regions along the north coast of Alaska,” Hawkins said. “Opening this fragile area to commerce will heighten the importance of scientific research to understand the effects. We need to learn more about the impacts of climate change, and understand the natural processes around us,” he added. “This is just the tool to do that. Having this ship is particularly important for our emphasis on climate research. Being able to have it now, with the current focus on climate change, really was an alignment of the planets.”
The ship is the first funded by the National Science Foundation since the 1980s. The total project will cost $199.5 million. Of that, $148 million comes from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
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US News Science, 17th August 2010
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Petermann Glacier looses huge ice block
This loss from the Petermann Glacier in Greenland was expected as cracks in the glacier were observed last year.
Professor Andreas Muenchow from the University of Delaware commented on the phenomenon “It is the largest Arctic iceberg to calve since 1962."
Scientists observing the event have declared that it is not known yet if the separation of this huge iceberg (which contains huge reserves of fresh water) is due to the global warming and the contribution of Greenland’s decaying ice sheet to the rising of the sea levels are being looked into.
Sources:
AFP/Google, 14th August 2010
Hot Spring Net, 12th August 2010
AFP/Google, 12th August 2010
Examiner, 13th August 2010
New Tang Dynasty Television, 18th August 2010
EC Pulse, 10th August 2010
All Voices, 8th August 2010
Providing News, 18th August 2010
Sentenial Source, 16th August 2010
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100-day Arctic expedition for the Academician Fedorov
The expedition will also involve the nuclear-powered icebreaker Yamal and will explore the geological structure of the Laptev and East-Siberian Seas, as well as other water areas, all the way to the geographical North Pole.
Research in the Arctic has been launched to gather evidence that the continental Arctic shelf, specifically the Lomonosov and Mendeleev ridges, is part of Russia. It is believed by scientists that the shelf harbours huge mineral resources.
Read more:
The Voice of Russia, 28th July 2010
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US and Canada to delineate outer limits of Arctic continental shelf
The US State Department said that coast guard ships from the US and Canada will map the shape of the disputed area's seafloor and determine sediment thickness as part of a survey from August 7 to September 3. "The mission will help delineate the outer limits of the continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean for the US and Canada," it said in a statement. It "will also include the collection of data in the disputed area where the US and Canada have not agreed to a maritime boundary. Coastal States have sovereign rights over the natural resources of their continental shelves. Both the US and Canada will be collecting scientific information to satisfy the criteria for delineating the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles as set forth in the Convention on the Law of the Sea," it added.
The 2010 continental shelf survey mission will cover regions over the Canada Basin, the Beaufort Shelf, and the Alpha Mendeleev Ridge.
An US Geological Survey in 2008 said that within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore.
Read more:
AFP / Google, 27th July 2010
Anchorage Daily News, 27th July 2010
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19th Century HMS Investigator wreck found
Canada's government says the discovery in Mercy Bay bolsters its claim to sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, which is feared threatened by increased shipping.
The British ship HMS Investigator, captained by Robert McClure, left Britain in 1848, to search for the Franklin expedition, lost with all its crew during a mission to discover the passage. The ship was eventually abandoned on the western side of the Canadian Arctic when it became trapped in pack ice.
Canadian Minister of the Environment Jim Prentice told the BBC by telephone from Mercy Bay "It's an incredible site. You're looking at what people have not seen in 156 years, which is a remarkably intact British sailing vessel. You could make out all the planking on the deck, the details on the hull, all of the detail of the timber," Mr Prentice said. "It's sitting perfectly upright on the floor of the ocean."
The Canadian researchers also found three graves of British sailors who died of scurvy on the 1853 expedition.
Parks Canada, a government agency, will inventory and study the ship and other artefacts but will not remove them. It has been in touch with the British government regarding the sailors' remains.
Read:
BBC News, 28th July 2010
The Hindustan Times, 29th July 2010
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