Arctic Watch

Facts About the Arctic

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Hidden fumes from melting glaciers could speed up global warming

Melting Arctic glaciers are unearthing a new source of potent greenhouse gas, warns new research. As the Arctic gets warmer, scientists found shrinking glaciers are exposing bubbling groundwater springs which could provide an underestimated source of methane. It is the…

Drilling for Oil on the Moon

There’s an ocean of oil and gas frozen in place beneath the Arctic. The cascading impact of climate change would argue for leaving it there.

On thin ice: Who “owns” the Arctic?

As the climate heats up, so do talks over land ownership in the Arctic. What does Canadian Arctic Sovereignty look like as the ice melts? he ship’s searchlight pencils its beam from one suspect cake of ice to the next….

A growing rivalry in the Arctic? Talk about a cold war.

Climate change, military competition and the search for natural resources in Arctic are turning the frozen north into a hotbed of global rivalry.

Arctic permafrost runoff driven by climate change

Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation are driving increases to streamflow in areas of high-latitude North America where permafrost dominates the landscape. “We saw long-term trends of increasing streamflows in the Arctic that reflect how deeper layers of the permafrost are thawing…

The Arctic Is Farting ‘Ancient’ Methane and It’s Scary as Hell

Rapidly receding glaciers are leaving new tracts of Arctic land uncovered and causing a potent greenhouse gas to bubble out of the ground, according to scientists studying the region. The Washington Post reports that, thanks to climate change, glaciers on a Norwegian…

Mid-summer bliss

The longest day of summer has come and gone, and summer melt is in full swing, with the pace of ice loss overall about average for this time of year. Arctic sea ice extent for June was not exceptionally low…

The melting Arctic is a crime scene. The microbes I study have long warned us of this catastrophe – but they are also driving it

The Arctic’s climate is warming at least four times faster than the global average, causing irrevocable changes to this vast landscape and precarious ecosystem – from the anticipated extinction of polar bears to the appearance of killer whales in ever-greater numbers. A new study suggests the Arctic Ocean could be…

Arctic tundra diversity loss slowed by large herbivores amid sea ice decline

Tundra diversity, including plants, lichens and fungi, declined over a 15-year experiment in the Arctic due to warming temperatures mediated by the disappearance of sea ice, according to Eric Post and colleagues. However, the presence of large herbivores such as…