#arctic ecosystem

[skannar]

Polar Ice Sheet : Minute Fiction

The Minute Fiction is a series of small immersive fiction stories created to give readers a quick daily mental break. How many minutes are in a month? Borrow one for yourself and have an adventure. Survival on the Polar Ice Sheet Amidst the vast expanse of the frozen Arctic, you, a massive adult polar bear, embark on a solitary journey that stretches for miles over the desolate ice. Your…

[climate-changing]

Aurora Realtime Motion, awesome, must see

[plantedcity]

Infographic: 'Arctic Ice Melt'

The infographic accompanies the Globe & Mail article, 'Canadian Arctic nearly loses entire ice shelf from global warming'

[plantedcity]

Arctic sea ice hits new low; melting at its fastest pace in almost 40 years

From the Guardian:

Arctic sea ice has melted to a level not recorded since satellite observations started in 1972 – and almost certainly not experienced for at least 8,000 years, say polar scientists.

Daily satellite sea-ice maps released by Bremen university physicists show that with a week's more melt expected this year, the floating ice in the Arctic covered an area of 4.24 million square kilometres on 8 September. The previous one-day minimum was 4.27m sq km on 17 September 2007.

...

"Ice volume is now plunging faster than it did at the same time last year when the record was set," said Axel Schweiger.

If current trends continue, a largely ice-free Arctic in the summer months is likely within 30 years –that is up to 40 years earlier than was anticipated in the last Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) assessment report.

The last time the Arctic was uncontestably free of summertime ice was 125,000 years ago, at the height of the last major interglacial period, known as the Eemian. 

"This stunning loss of Arctic sea ice is yet another wake-up call that climate change is here now and is having devastating effects around the world," Shaye Wolf, climate science director at the Centre for Biological Diversity in San Francisco told journalists.

Arctic ice plays a critical role in regulating Earth's climate by reflecting sunlight and keeping the polar region cool. Retreating summer sea ice is widely described by scientists as both a measure and a driver of global warming, with negative impacts on a local and planetary scale.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Image credit: University of Bremen via The Guardian)

[plantedcity]

Infographic: 'The Dangers of Oil & Ice - The Scramble for Hydrocarbons Above the Arctic Circle'

The infographic comes from the article, 'Unlocked by melting ice-caps, the great polar oil rush has begun', in the UK's Telegraph newspaper.

[plantedcity]

The Arctic is the planet's air conditioner and it's starting to break down.

~ Eban Goodstein, resource economist at New York state's Bard College and co-author of the report, 'Arctic Treasure, Global Assets Melting Away.'

A recent Reuters article looking at the report points out that:

"Arctic ice melting could cost global agriculture, real estate and insurance anywhere from $2.4 trillion to $24 trillion by 2050 in damage from rising sea levels, floods and heat waves."

(Photo credit: the amazing Yann Arthus Bertrand)