By Gwynne Dyer – Historically, the Arctic Ocean would freeze right out to its edges (the northern coasts of Canada, Greenland, Russia, and Alaska) each winter — 14-million square kilometers of ice — and then melt back to about half that area over the following summer. Not this year.
Two adventurers have successfully crossed the Arctic Ocean on skis after persevering through brutal conditions, briefly running out of food, and struggling to traverse thin ice caused by global warming, their team said on Sunday.
The Kremlin on Wednesday refused to reveal the full story of a fire that killed 14 officers on what was reportedly a nuclear-powered mini-submarine, saying the details of the tragedy were a “state secret.”
Record levels of micro-plastics have been found trapped inside sea ice floating in the Arctic. Ice cores gathered across the Arctic Ocean reveal micro-plastics at concentrations two to three times higher than previously recorded. As sea ice melts with climate change, the plastic will be released back into the water, with unknown effects on wildlife, say German scientists.
The north Atlantic current flowing in to the Arctic Ocean is warmer that it has been for at least 2000 years and is a sign that global warming is likely to bring ice free seas around the North Pole in a few years time, a new study finds