[dropcap]P[/dropcap]alo Alto, CA– New research, led by former Carnegie postdoctoral fellow Summer Praetorius, shows that changes in the heat flow of the northern Pacific Ocean may have a larger effect on the Arctic climate than previously thought. The findings are published in the August 7, 2018, issue of Nature Communications. The Arctic is experiencing larger […]
Materials from Arctic Shelves are Changing the Water’s Composition: Scientists say the input of shelf-derived materials to the central Arctic Ocean over the past decade appears to be increasing. They further note that this increase is altering the water’s composition and could threaten biological productivity and species assemblages. Their results provide one of the first […]
Polar bears likely survived past warm periods in the Arctic, when sea ice cover was low, by scavenging on the carcasses of stranded large whales. This food source sustained the bears when they were largely restricted to land, unable to roam the ice in search of seals to hunt. A new study led by the University of […]
New NASA-funded research has discovered that Arctic permafrost’s expected gradual thawing and the associated release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere may actually be sped up by instances of a relatively little known process called abrupt thawing. Abrupt thawing takes place under a certain type of Arctic lake, known as a thermokarst lake that forms […]
Dear Editor, In response to the recently published article entitled “Thawing Permafrost Microbiomes Fuel Climate Change,” it is increasingly evident that a bold and swift transition to renewable energy, and away from fossil fuels, is essential for maintaining a livable planet. Unforeseen variables, such as thawing permafrost carbon sinks, are only accelerating the rate of […]
A new study shows that as those fires scorched a region of boreal forest the size of Maryland, they released half as much carbon back into the atmosphere as all the plants, shrubs and trees in Canada typically store in an entire year. The Arctic is warming faster than any other region on Earth, and […]
Just outside my window here at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, workers are drilling into the asphalt of a parking lot using a truck-mounted rig. They twist a hollow bit 25 feet into the ground and pull up hard, clear evidence of why the blacktop is sinking. A few days ago, John Walsh gave a […]
Controlling greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades could substantially reduce the consequences of carbon releases from thawing permafrost during the next 300 years, according to a new paper published this week in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. Conversely, climate policy that results in little or no effort to control greenhouse gases like carbon […]
A major shift in western Arctic wind patterns occurred throughout the winter of 2017 and the resulting changes in sea ice movement are possible indicators of a changing climate, says Kent Moore, a professor of physics at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Thanks to data collected by buoys dropped from aircraft onto the Arctic Ocean’s […]