Arctic

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Radioactive Bloom Over Europe Sparks Nuke Test Concerns

But it was probably just a pharmaceutical accident

(Newser) - As mysterious radiation spread over the Arctic and south into Europe last month, conspiracy theorists quickly claimed Russia had restarted nuclear testing at Novaya Zemlya, the Drive reports. But the truth is—probably—a lot less menacing. According to the Independent Barents Observer , a spike in the radioactive isotope Iodine-131...

Scientists Plan to Strand a Ship in Arctic Ice

Polarstern will drift across North Pole so researchers can get info on climate change

(Newser) - The nearly 400-foot-long Polarstern is designed to break through ice in frigid waters—but for an upcoming trip to study climate change, Germany is going to purposely let its ship become stuck in the middle of the floes, per the BBC . In what the Telegraph paints as a "daring...

Temperature at North Pole Nearly Reaches Melting Point
Temperature at North Pole
Nearly 50 Above Normal
The Rundown
Dec 22, 2016 4:55 PM CST

Temperature at North Pole Nearly 50 Above Normal

The Arctic is nearing the melting point when it should be freezing

(Newser) - Hope Santa has a summer outfit on hand. The New York Times reports scientists have been "startled" by the extremely warm temperatures in the Arctic over the past two months. In mid-November, some areas of the Arctic were more than 35 degrees above average, while mean temperatures for the...

Obama Makes It Much Harder for Trump to Drill in the Arctic

Presidents uses 1953 law to ban oil leases in much of Arctic, Atlantic

(Newser) - President Obama has designated the bulk of US-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing, the AP reports. The move on Tuesday helps put some finishing touches on Obama's environmental legacy while also testing...

Santa&#39;s Reindeer Are Shrinking
Santa's Reindeer
Are Shrinking
Dec 12, 2016 8:29 AM CST

Santa's Reindeer Are Shrinking

Blame warmer temperatures, say scientists

(Newser) - Santa might need to recruit a few extra reindeer this year. According to Scottish scientists, Arctic reindeer are shrinking in size. Scientists weighed 135 reindeer on Norway's Svalbard archipelago, about 800 miles from the North Pole, each April from 1994 to 2015 and found the animals shrank from 121...

Narwhals &#39;See&#39; Unlike Any Other Species
Narwhals 'See' Unlike
Any Other Species
NEW STUDY
Nov 10, 2016 7:25 AM CST

Narwhals 'See' Unlike Any Other Species

Directional sonar helps them find areas free of ice

(Newser) - Whales need to surface in order to breathe, and the narwhal is no different. Every four to six minutes, the Arctic whale—including males with a long tooth resembling a horn—must emerge from the depths of Baffin Bay between Baffin Island and Greenland, where 80% of all narwhals winter,...

There's a Mysterious Sound Coming From Canada's Arctic

Canadian military, however, found nothing odd

(Newser) - Something appears to be making a mysterious "pinging" noise on the sea floor of the Canadian Arctic. Inuit hunters in a remote community in Nunavut first reported the sound—also described as a "hum" or "beep"—complaining that it was scaring away marine animals in an...

Squirrels Prove It: Females Do All the Work, Guys Goof Off

Males appear to spend a lot of time basking in the sun: new study

(Newser) - Science has given tired women everywhere their I-told-you-so-moment, and it comes courtesy of the hapless Arctic ground squirrel: The males of the species appear to spend most of their non-hibernating months soaking up the rays above ground while the females are kept busy either nursing their young below ground or...

Cruise Ship Sails Through Melting Northwest Passage

Environmentalists say it's part of the problem

(Newser) - The Crystal Serenity's current journey through the Arctic is historic. At nearly three football fields long and 13 stories tall, the cruise ship is the largest ever to traverse the Northwest Passage , where its 900 or so well-heeled guests have glimpsed polar bears, kayaked along Canada's north shore,...

Famous Shipwreck in Canada Finally Floats Again

Norwegians have spent 6 years recovering Arctic explorer Roald Amundsen's ship

(Newser) - For six years, a small team of Norwegians has worked tirelessly to recover a famous shipwreck in the remote hamlet of Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, a northern territory of Canada—and as of Saturday, they were finally able to lift it off the ocean floor thanks in large part to...

Scientist Finds Tallest Mountain in US Arctic— and a Surprise

Mount Isto is tallest, followed by Mount Hubley

(Newser) - It's been the subject of a half-century-long debate. But thanks to a new mapping technique, mountain experts have identified the tallest mountain in the US Arctic and uncovered a bit of a surprise as well. Using fodar , a technique he invented to map terrain using airborne photography, glaciologist Matt...

US Government Halts New Offshore Arctic Drilling

Government blames sinking oil prices and Shell's lack of success in the Arctic Ocean

(Newser) - In bad news for the Alaskan economy but good news for polar bears, the US government blocked new offshore drilling in Alaska's Arctic Ocean and refused to extend two existing leases for Arctic drilling on Friday, the New York Times reports. The Interior Department cancelled auctions for drilling rights...

To Catch Russia in Arctic, Obama Wants Icebreakers

In Alaska, president will underscore exploration opportunities we're missing

(Newser) - President Obama yesterday painted a nearly apocalyptic future for Alaska unless global warming is reined in, reports the AP , and today he's going to touch on the flip side of that: The melting Arctic also raises all kinds of exploration and commerce opportunities, and Obama will push for more...

Obama: Go Ahead, Shell, Drill Deeper for That Arctic Oil

Environmentalists lambast decision, saying it will 'worsen climate disruption'

(Newser) - President Obama has disappointed a slew of environmental activists by giving Shell the green light yesterday to drill deeper in the Arctic for oil, Quartz reports. The approval issued by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement expands the oil company's current permissions, allowing it to drill even further...

Russia Has Just Claimed a Chunk of the Arctic

Including the North Pole

(Newser) - Russia, the US, Canada, Denmark, and Norway all want to grab a part of the Arctic, and Russia in 2001 became the first to submit its claim to the UN—a claim that was sent back due to lack of evidence. The country now says it has that evidence, reports...

Greenpeace Being Fined $2,500 an Hour for This

13 protesters are dangling from an Oregon bridge to stop a ship

(Newser) - Greenpeace is trying to prevent a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker from leaving Oregon to go drill for oil in the Arctic in a most unusual—and, it now seems, expensive—way. The protesters have since yesterday been dangling from St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River using ropes and pulleys....

Stranded Explorers Became More Than Cannibals

Scientists finally learn the lengths British shipmen went to survive

(Newser) - Call it cannibalism-plus. Scientists have learned that a group of British Navy shipmen stranded in the Canadian Arctic in the mid-1840s didn't just cut the flesh off their fellow crewmen's bones to survive, they also cracked those bones to suck out the marrow. Reporting in the International Journal ...

We May Never See Another 'True' Trek to the North Pole

Climate change, logistics may do in human-powered 90N travel

(Newser) - The good news: There are hearty adventurers in this world wiling to endure the multimonth trek to the North Pole across nearly 500 miles of frozen tundra while pulling a 300-pound sled in the name of exploration. The bad news: None of them may ever get the chance to do...

Researchers Studying Arctic Ice Feared Drowned

Two Dutch scientists encountered thin ice in an unexpected area

(Newser) - Two Dutch researchers are presumed to be drowned while exploring an area of the Arctic where they expected to find thick ice. Marc Cornelissen and Philip de Roo were last heard from on Tuesday, when Cornelissen left a jokey voicemail about how it was so warm near Bathurst Island that...

Denmark: North Pole Is Ours
 Denmark: North Pole Is Ours 
Dec 15, 2014 6:10 AM CST

Denmark: North Pole Is Ours

Country is latest to claim portion of Arctic Circle

(Newser) - The latest country to make a claim for the North Pole: Denmark. Back in 2007 , Danish scientists surveyed a 1,240-mile-long underwater mountain range beneath the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia, and by 2012 they concluded that Greenland's continental shelf is connected to the ridge, the AP reports. As...

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