Arctic in Biological News

Early initiation of Arctic sea-ice formation

Significant sea ice formation occurred in the Arctic earlier than previously thought is the conclusion of a study published this week in Nature . "The results are also especially exciting because they suggest that sea ice formed in the Arctic before it did in Antarctica, which goes against scient...

Research vessel Polarstern starts 24th Arctic season

Bremerhaven, June 18th. The German research vessel Polarstern, operated by the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association, will begin its 24th Arctic expedition on Saturday, June 20th. 119 scientists from seven different nations will research the whole spec...

CU-Boulder study shows 53 million-year-old high Arctic mammals wintered in darkness

Ancestors of tapirs and ancient cousins of rhinos living above the Arctic Circle 53 million years ago endured six months of darkness each year in a far milder climate than today that featured lush, swampy forests, according to a new study led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. CU-Boulder...

Research plane Polar 5 on Arctic campaign

Bremerhaven, March 24th 2009. The research aircraft Polar 5 belongs to the Alfred Wegener Institute. It will start on Monday March 30th at 10 o'clock from the regional airport Bremerhaven on an Arctic measurement campaign which will last about four weeks. Measurements of sea ice thickness and atmo...

Marine scientists to assess environment before offshore drilling begins in US arctic waters

AUSTIN, TexasThrough a $2.9 million, three-year grant from the Minerals Management Service (MMS), a team led by University of Texas at Austin marine scientists will assess the biological and chemical conditions on the seabed of the Chukchi Sea before the area opens for offshore oil drilling. Th...

FSU Historian's Arctic research has him sitting on top of the world

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- It's one of the coldest and most remote areas on Earth, but the Arctic region has long held great strategic interest for a number of nations. Now, a Florida State University researcher is leading an international team that is working to produce one of the most comprehensive h...

Unexplored Arctic region to be mapped

A scientific expedition this fall will map the unexplored Arctic seafloor where the U.S. and Canada may have sovereign rights over natural resources such as oil and gas and control over activities such as mining. Both countries will use the resulting data to establish the outer limits of the c...

Successful series of measurements in Arctic sea ice

Bremerhaven August 7th 2008. The German Research Vessel Polarstern had to prove its ice breaking capabilities in Arctic waters to gain data on two series of long-term research measurements. After working in regions up to latitude 82 N, Polarstern of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marin...

Scientists endure Arctic for last campaign prior to CryoSat-2 launch

An international group of scientists has swapped their comfortable offices for one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet to carry out a challenging field campaign that is seen as the key to ensuring the data delivered by ESA's ice mission CryoSat will be as accurate as possible. T...

NOAA aircraft to probe arctic pollution

NOAA scientists are now flying through springtime Arctic pollution to find out why the region is warming - and summertime sea ice is melting - faster than predicted. Some 35 NOAA researchers are gathering with government and university colleagues in Fairbanks, Alaska, to conduct the study through ...

NASA launches airborne study of arctic atmosphere, air pollution

This month, NASA begins the most extensive field campaign ever to investigate the chemistry of the Arctic's lower atmosphere. The mission is poised to help scientists identify how air pollution contributes to climate changes in the Arctic. The recent decline of sea ice is one indication the Arc...

Scientists expand understanding of how river carbon impacts the Arctic Ocean

Arctic rivers transport huge quantities of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the Arctic Ocean. The prevailing paradigm regarding DOC in arctic rivers is that it is largely refractory, making it of little significance for the biogeochemistry of the Arctic Ocean. However, a recent study by R. M. Ho...

High degree of resistance to antibiotics in Arctic birds

In the latest issue of the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, Swedish researchers report that birds captured in the hyperboreal tundra, in connection with the tundra expedition Beringia 2005, were carriers of antibiotics-resistant bacteria. These findings indicate that resistance to antibiotic...

Less Arctic ice means higher risks, experts warn

The International Ice Charting Working Group predicts more marine transportation in the Arctic as sea ice continues to diminish and warns of "significant hazards to navigation," according to a statement released yesterday. The statement was released during a five-day conference held at ESRIN, E...

Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in history

The area covered by sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to its lowest level this week since satellite measurements began nearly 30 years ago, opening up the Northwest Passage a long-sought short cut between Europe and Asia that has been historically impassable. In the mosaic image above, created ...

International team of students and scientists on month-long field course in Siberian Arctic

Scientists and undergraduate students from across the United States and Russia are departing July 2 for a month-long field course in the Russian Arctic. The program, known as The Polaris Project, is training future leaders in arctic research and education, and informing the public about the impact...

Spring agricultural fires have large impact on melting Arctic

DURHAM, N.H. - Scientists from around the world will convene at the University of New Hampshire June 2-5, 2009, to discuss key findings from the most ambitious effort ever undertaken to measure "short-lived" airborne pollutants in the Arctic and determine how they contribute in the near term to th...

Fossil evidence of missing link in the origin of seals, sea lions, walruses found in Canadian Arctic

Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaResearchers from the United States and Canada have found a fossil skeleton of a newly discovered carnivorous animal, Puijila darwini . New research suggests Puijila is a "missing link" in the evolution of the group that today includes seals, sea lions, and the walrus...

Satellite snow maps help reindeer herders adapt to a changing Arctic

Arctic reindeer herders are facing the challenges of adapting to climate change as a warmer Arctic climate makes it harder for herds to find food and navigate. To help them adapt, the ESA-backed Polar View initiative is providing them with satellite-based snow maps. "Snow is of paramount import...

ESA satellites focusing on the Arctic

The Arctic is undergoing rapid transformation due to climate change, pollution and human activity. ESA's ERS and Envisat satellites have been providing satellite data of the region for the last 17 years. These long term data sets in combination with ESA's future missions will be key in implementin...

Greenland ice core reveals history of pollution in the Arctic

New research, reported this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, finds that coal burning, primarily in North America and Europe, contaminated the Arctic and potentially affected human health and ecosystems in and around Earth's polar regions. ...

Woods Hole Research Center to lead undergraduate initiative in the Siberian Arctic

A new initiative at the Woods Hole Research Center known as the Polaris Project, led by Associate Scientist Max Holmes, will train future leaders in arctic research and education, and inform the public, both of which are essential given the rapid and profound changes underway in the Arctic in resp...

Dirty snow may warm Arctic as much as greenhouse gases

The global warming debate has focused on carbon dioxide emissions, but scientists at UC Irvine have determined that a lesser-known mechanism -- dirty snow -- can explain one-third or more of the Arctic warming primarily attributed to greenhouse gases. Snow becomes dirty when soot from tailpipes,...

Scientists discover new life forms in the Arctic Ocean

An international team of scientists including Université Laval biologist Connie Lovejoy has discovered new life forms in the Arctic Ocean. The team's findings are reported in the January 12 edition of the journal Science. The researchers have discovered a new group of microscopic organisms, which...

New method confirms importance of fungi in Arctic nitrogen cycle

A new method to calculate the transfer of nitrogen from Arctic mushrooms to plants is shedding light on how fungi living symbiotically on plant roots transfer vital nutrients to their hosts. The analytical technique, developed by John E. Hobbie, MBL Distinguished Scientist and co-director of the la...

Scientists to employ Arctic ice and polar bears to protect diversity of world's crops

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have announced that a vaccine they developed a few years ago against one antigenic variant of the avian influenza virus H5N1 may protect humans against future variants of the virus. Vaccines based on this model might therefore be suitable for stoc...

Disappearing arctic lakes linked to climate change

Continued arctic warming may be causing a decrease in the number and size of Arctic lakes. The issue is the subject of a paper published in the June 3 issue of the journal "Science." The paper, titled, "Disappearing Arctic Lakes" is the result of a comparison of satellite data taken of Siberia in t...

Census of Marine Life explorers surprised by diversity, density of Arctic creatures

A historic expedition of Census of Marine Life explorers to the planet's most northern reaches has revealed a surprising density and diversity of Arctic Ocean creatures, some believed new to science. Sheltered for millennia under a lid of ice currently one to 20 meters thick, unexpectedly high nu...

Innovative collaboration brings Arctic science into the classroom

An upcoming expedition to study the Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers is not simply a research project for R. Max Holmes, an associate scientist at The Woods Hole Research Center. It is also a means to integrate education and outreach into his work. In June and July, Dr. Holmes, an ecosystem scientist w...

Symposium to discuss geoengineering to fight climate change at the ESA Annual Meeting

...could destroy atmospheric ozone, leading to increased ultraviolet radiation reaching the Earth's surface. "An increase in ozone depletion over the arctic could lead to dangerous levels of ultraviolet light hitting the Earth's surface," she says. "In this case, the recovery of the ozone hole over the Ant...

August 2009 Geology and GSA Today media highlights

...glaciers. Instead, the region consisted of a great arctic steppe, bound by mountains to the south and contin... and the helmeted musk-ox. But how did this remote arctic region support such a diverse array of grazing meg...have been able to demonstrate that, unlike today's arctic tundra, Beringia consisted of a well-drained, vege...

Humans 'damaging the oceans'

...al climate change may become catastrophic and irreversible," they add. "At that point we can expect to see the loss of most of our coral reefs and the arctic seas." "The climate is currently warming faster than the worst case known from the fossil record, about 56 million years ago, when temperatures ros...

Spring cold snap helps with stream ecosystem research

...am when the sun angle is relatively high." For this particular study, an arctic air mass sent temperatures to below 28 degrees Fahrenheit for several night...ents to maintain productivity. "The stream ecosystem cannot depend on an arctic air mass moving in every year, killing the leaves and exposing the stream t...

Arctic climate under greenhouse conditions in the Late Cretaceous

...ee summers with intermittent winter sea ice in the arctic Ocean during the Late Cretaceous a period of greenhouse conditions - gives a glimpse of how the arctic is likely to respond to future global warming. Records of past environmental change in the arctic should help predict its future behaviour. The Late...

Spread your sperm the smart way

...ing, and how this might vary depending on mating patterns. Previous studies have shown that in animals such as the domestic fowl, and fish such as the arctic charr, males with privileged access to females produce ejaculates of lower fertilising quality than subordinate males. Sam Tazzyman, UCL CoMPLEX (C...

All in sight

...rity (evasion of collisions with growlers) and sea ice research (ice coverage at small-scales) are important, not least with regard to the diminishing arctic ice cover. ...

New tracking approach will help protect polar bears

... University researchers, will shed more light on the potentially endangered arctic animal and help boost the economy of Canada's north. Integrating the tr...vernment's integrated Northern Strategy that focuses on exercising Canada's arctic sovereignty, protecting the North's environmental heritage, promoting socia...

When palm trees gave way to spruce trees

...source. "Fossils of land plants are excellent indicators of past climates," said Dr. Greenwood. "But the fossil plant localities from the Canadian arctic and Greenland don't appear to record this major climate change, and pose problems for precisely dating their age, so we needed to look elsewhere." ...

Broecker: 'What we need are tougher measures against climate change'

... first signs of warming], so it was a very interesting prediction". The arctic thaw and abrupt climate changes But this was not the only terrain first...hort periods, at times less than twenty years. Today's rapid thawing of the arctic polar cap is a good example. The resulting increase in freshwater inflow to...

First ever worldwide census analysis of caribou/reindeer numbers reveals dramatic decline

...us also on the impact on the economies and culture of northern people," said Vors. The dramatic changes caused by global warming that happen in the arctic and which impact on the herds include; earlier spring green ups that now occur before migrating herds arrive north and which deprive mothers and calve...