Arctic Ocean
(Washington, DC ? Nov. 20, 2009) -- Scientists from the Marine Biogeochemistry and Geology and Geophysics sections of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) organized and led a team of university and government scientists on an Arctic expedition to initiate methane hydrate exploration in the Beaufort Sea and determine the spatial variation of sediment contribution to Arctic climate change.
California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oste
U.S. satellite measurements show Arctic sea ice extent in 2009 -- the area of the Arctic Ocean covered by floating ice -- was the third lowest since satellite measurements were first made in 1979. The ice area at minimum was an increase from the past two years, but still well below the average for the past 30 years.
Humanity needs to act now to avoid threats to human well-being caused by irreversible damage to the Earth, its climate, species and life-supporting systems.
Scientists say it has become essential to define what levels of such human-caused change are 'safe' and which are 'unsafe', and to stay within these boundaries.
A team of scientists led by U of C grad Casey Hubert has detected high numbers of heat loving, or thermophilic, bacteria in subzero sediments in the Arctic Ocean off the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The bacterial spores might provide a unique opportunity to trace seepages of fluids from hot sub-seafloor habitats, possibly pointing towards undiscovered offshore petroleum reservoirs.
This summer, a group of scientists and students -- as well as a Canadian senator, a writer, and a filmmaker -- set out from Resolute Bay, Canada, on the icebreaker Louis S. St-Laurent. They were headed through the Northwest Passage, but instead of opening shipping lanes in the ice, they had gathered to open up new lines of thinking on Arctic science.
A small NASA aircraft completed its first successful science flight Thursday in partnership with the University of Colorado at Boulder as part of an expedition to study the receding Arctic sea ice and improve understanding of its life cycle and the long-term stability of the Arctic ice cover. The mission continues through July 24.
Edmonton -- University of Alberta researchers conducting a water study in the Mackenzie River Delta have found a dramatically higher delivery of mercury from the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean than determined in previous studies.
BOULDER--Rivers in some of the world's most populous regions are losing water, according to a new comprehensive study of global stream flow.
Rivers in some of the world's most populous regions are losing water, according to a comprehensive study of global stream flows.
ABSTRACT:
The myth of the churning of the milk ocean is analyzed. The words given in the
myth are interpreted. The meaning of the names 'milk ocean', Badabaanala and Kala
Kuta are discussed. The meaning of the word Patala is explained. Mandara, the
greatest of the mountain ranges, is identified. Use of the expression 'the great
In Arctic Canada, a team of geologists from the University of Rochester has discovered a surprise fossil: a tropical, freshwater, Asian turtle.
Far northern rivers are discharging increasing amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, due to intensified precipitation caused by global warming, say researchers at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in the United Kingdom. Water exchange between the ocean, atmosphere, and land is called the global hydrological cycle. As Earth's climate warms, the rate of this exchange is expected to increase. As part of this process, high-latitude precipitation and, consequently, river runoffs are also expected to increase. This could change the distribution of water on Earth's surface, with important social and economic consequences.
The North Pole, synonymous with all things very cold, once had a subtropical climate according to scientists now returning from the Arctic . The international scientific team, taking part in the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX), has just discovered that the Arctic Ocean once was ice-free because of prehistoric global warming. The scientific team from eight nations has recovered sediment cores from nearly 400 metres below the seafloor, in waters 1300 metres deep. ''The early history of the Arctic Basin will be re-evaluated based on the scientific results collected on this expedition,'' said Professor Jan Backman, Stockholm University, one of the co-chief scientists. The cores show evidence of subtropical, shallow seas in the form of tiny fossils-extinct marine plant and animals.
The first 40 million years of Arctic climate history have been recovered from beneath the Arctic seafloor this week. After four days of working in hazardous conditions, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's Arctic Coring Expedition retrieved 272 meters of core. Extreme sea ice then forced the ship to abandon its position. Coring of the Arctic's first scientific borehole--located roughly 145 miles from the North Pole--was interrupted when very thick, moving ice floes threatened the expedition's safety. Even one of the world's most powerful ice breakers, the Russian Sovetskiy Soyuz, employed to protect the coring ship from harsh Arctic elements, could not safeguard operations at the initial coring site.
