Arctic Ecosystems

Archeologists On Ice

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The global glacier meltdown may be bad for those of us who live in the present, but it’s giving archeologists an exciting window into the past. Photograph by Zacharie Grossen / Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to Alan Burdick for illuminating some of the silver linings of the otherwise cloudy prospects of melting glaciers:

An Ancient Lunchbox Emerges from the Ice

In the past century, the glaciers and ice fields of the European Alps have lost half their volume to global warming, and their continued retreat, like that of glaciers everywhere in the world, is accelerating. By 2100, many scientists predict, they will have all but disappeared. The meltdown has already disrupted the region’s sensitive mountain ecosystems and tourist resorts—some local communities have taken to laying protective white blankets over the snow and ice—but it has also opened up new avenues of scientific inquiry. Continue reading →

Massive Ice Shelf Larsen C

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NASA Blue Marble imagery

Thanks to the New York Times for a graphic illustrating the scale of change, aka consequences, related to global warming:

An Iceberg the Size of Delaware Just Broke Away From Antarctica

By JUGAL K. PATEL and JUSTIN GILLIS

A chunk of floating ice that weighs more than a trillion metric tons broke away from the Antarctic Peninsula, producing one of the largest icebergs ever recorded and providing a glimpse of how the Antarctic ice sheet might ultimately start to fall apart. Continue reading →

Paul Nicklen Way North & Way South

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Paul Nicklen/Paul Nicklen Gallery

I listened to this interview while walking the trails at Chan Chich Lodge this morning, so had no photos to look at. And yet, it was vivid. And highly relevant to what we do here. I will let you listen to get what I mean.

Six photos accompany this story on the Fresh Air website, and those are curated for the podcast. If you only have time for photos click over to Paul Nicklin’s website, but the interview with him is worth every one of the 48 minutes. If you only have ten minutes to listen, go to 22:30 and if you do not find yourself bursting into a mix of laughter and other unidentified emotions, let me know; it means one of us may need some professional help:

Polar Photographer Shares His View Of A Ferocious But Fragile Ecosystem

Conservation photographer Paul Nicklen has spent more than two decades documenting the ice and wildlife in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth — the Arctic and the Antarctic. Continue reading →

Cruise Ships Rarely Bring Good Tidings

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The presence of cruise ships in the Northwest Passage is among the dilemmas that climate change is creating for Canada’s Inuit people amid their struggle to balance environmental and economic concerns. PHOTOGRAPH BY KIKE CALVO / REDUX

It is our view, based on news reports like this that appear constantly in myriad variations from around the world, that with few exceptions cruise ships are problematic. Here is just one more datapoint:

THE COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRUISE SHIPS AND THE ARCTIC INUIT

By Peter Kujawinski

Last summer, the Crystal Serenity, a luxury cruise ship, embarked on a monthlong voyage through the Northwest Passage, the sea route that winds through Canada’s Arctic archipelago. The Serenity, which can accommodate more than a thousand passengers, headed through the same waters as had H.M.S. Resolute, which, in August of 1853, set out to rescue a group of British explorers and ended up trapped in the ice for the better part of a year. The Arctic Ocean is warmer than it was a hundred and sixty-three years ago, and the Crystal Serenity, accompanied by a British icebreaking vessel, made the voyage without dire incident. It is the largest cruise ship to sail through the Northwest Passage, and its voyage signalled the economic changes that are coming to the vast region as a result, in part, of climate change. Continue reading →

Atlantic Canyon Withdrawal, Another Obama Legacy

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Walruses rest on the shores of the Chukchi Sea, the vast majority of which was designated off-limits to drilling on Tuesday. Ryan Kingsbery/AP

It is impossible to predict what will happen 2017 onward to these final environmental initiatives of the outgoing President of the USA. Nonetheless, we will cheer his efforts on behalf of conservation right to the very end of his term.  Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for this news:

Obama Designates Atlantic, Arctic Areas Off-Limits To Offshore Drilling

“These actions, and Canada’s parallel actions, protect a sensitive and unique ecosystem that is unlike any other region on earth,” the White House said in a statement. Continue reading →