“In the first comprehensive satellite study of its kind, a University of Colorado at Boulder-led team used NASA data to calculate how much Earth’s melting land ice is adding to global sea level rise.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists.” Quoted from the NSF press release.
High latitude areas around the Earth are seeing spectacular aurora displays in response to an intense solar storm that occurred last week. These displays are expected to be very frequent over the next two years as the sun goes through a period of frequent activity.
Did you know that different populations of killer whales specialize on particular types of prey and that some will prey on baleen whales that are over twice their own size?
“ESA satellites show that a large dome of fresh water has been building up in the ArcticOcean over the last 15 years. A change in wind direction could cause the water to spill into the north Atlantic, cooling Europe.” Quote from the ESA website.
“The bottom of a glacier is not the most hospitable place on Earth, but at least two types of bacteria happily live there.” Quoted from the Penn State press release.
“A new NASA and University of Washington study allays concerns that melting Arctic sea ice could be increasing the amount of freshwater in the Arctic enough to have an impact on the global ocean conveyor belt’ that redistributes heat around our planet.” Quoted from the NASA press release.
“As the Arctic warms, greenhouse gases will be released from thawing permafrost faster and at significantly higher levels than previous estimates. This thawing will release approximately the same amount of carbon as deforestation. However, the effect of thawing permafrost on climate will be 2.5 times greater because emissions include methane.” Quoted from the University of Alaska Fairbanks press release.
Throughout the 20th century most people would never have thought about Canada being an important producer of diamonds. But in 1991 two geologists found evidence of kimberlite pipes about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Soon Canada became one of the world’s leading diamond producers.
“According to the Arctic Report Card, ice mass loss from Greenland in 2011 was about 430 gigatons—enough ice to raise global sea level by just over 1 millimeter.” Quoted from NASA’s Earth Observatory.
* Data for 2011 is available before the end of the calendar year because the melt season is over.
Depending on the data analysis approach, 2011 was either the third most extensive or the sixth most extensive melting year since satellite records began in 1979.
* Data for 2011 is available before the end of the calendar year because the melt season is over.
Most maps are drawn with north at the top. The main exception is polar maps where the north pole (or south pole) is near the center of the map. A new article on the About.com Geography site explores why north is at the top of most maps.
Businessweek has an article that traces the history of the icebreaker from the first steam-powered vessel built to clear Philadelphia’s harbor to the new polar-class vessels that will be needed as activity in the Arctic escalates.
The Law of the Sea Treaty is an agreement that allocates the seafloor resources under the Arctic Ocean. A debate in the Wall Street Journal has arguments in favor and against.
Researchers from the Dallas Museum of Nature and Science have described a new species of horned dinosaur, Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum, recovered from the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska’s North Slope. This article at ArtDaily had a link to the formal paper at the bottom of the page.
Researchers at City College of New York have discovered that the Greenland ice sheet can experience cycles of extreme melting even when temperatures are not hitting record highs.
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