Edit ModuleShow Tags Edit ModuleShow Tags

Arctic Daily Update: September 4, 2014


Arctic Update Header
September 4, 2014  



capital Today's Congressional Action: 






blueberries Nordic Diet a Heart-Smart Alternative. A Nordic diet is just as healthy as a Mediterranean one, a new study shows. The Nordic diet combines game meat, fish, berries, root vegetables, mushrooms, whole wheat bread and rapeseed oil. And the traditional diet seems to contribute to lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity, according to a study presented at the European cardiology congress in Barcelona, Swedish Radio reports. Alaska Dispatch News


Nunavik Gets New Management System for Beluga Harvest. The federal department of Fisheries and Oceans has approved a new management system for the beluga whale harvest in Nunavik. Under the new system, developed by the Nunavik Marine Region Wildlife Board, there will be no seasonal closures. The beluga hunting season has typically been open from late April to November. Nunatsiaq Online


Four Decades of Sea Ice From Space. One of the most visible signs of climate change in recent years was not even visible at all until a few decades ago. The sea ice cap that covers the Arctic Ocean has been changing dramatically, especially in the last 15 years. Its ice is thinner and more vulnerable - and at its summer minimum now covers more than 1 million fewer square miles than in the late 1970s. That's enough missing ice to cover Alaska, California and Texas. Phys.Org


thinice More Evidence that Arctic Warming is Behind the Weak Polar Vortex. This past year, the U.S. Midwest and Northeast suffered through a long, cold winter. The West, in contrast, saw a warm, dry season. Yet both were symptoms of the same cause-a leaky polar vortex. This situation gets even more counterintuitive, too. A contentious idea that's been kicking around for a while posits that, as backwards as it seems, a weak polar vortex (and the resulting cold winter) might actually have been a sign of global warming. And now a new study adds evidence that this may, in fact, be the case. Here's how it works. Normally, cold Arctic air is confined to the polar region by a strong atmospheric circulation around the pole. (That's the polar vortex.) Last year the polar vortex weakened, and the cold Arctic air spilled south, flash freezing the eastern half of the continent. Smithsonian Magazine


The Polar Bear's Vanishing World. Every summer, I keep a close eye on the rate and extent of the sea ice retreat in the Arctic. I know that sea ice can only decline as we continue to pump increasing quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. But I keep my fingers crossed that natural variation in weather and climate patterns will moderate this human-caused trend, giving polar bears more time as they wait for us to reduce our emissions. This July, the average sea ice extent dipped to the fourth lowest level recorded for the month. Thankfully, for the bears it was not a record retreat. But it was still 1.85 million square kilometers lower than the July average -- an area nearly three times the size of Texas! And this summer's sea ice losses continue the long-term declining trend. Huffington Post 


canadian flag Charting Canada's Waters a Painstaking Process. The federal surveyors who chart Canada's waters have a habit of stumbling across sunken ships. Their sonar peers through the murky depths with sound waves that bounce off the sea floor to produce detailed colour images of contours and hidden shipping hazards like big, jagged rocks and shoals. The Toronto Star

Legislative Actionfutureevents  


No Arctic legislation was formally considered yesterday.

Future Events




 Art & Science: An Exhibition of Arctic Climate Change, September 10, 2014 (Washington, DC). Communicating the hard science of Arctic climate change is often a difficult task through language alone. Art, however, is an effective vehicle to communicate the complexities of climate change science to a broad audience. How do Arctic science and the art about it interact, and how does each influence the public perception of Arctic climate change?  Please join the Atlantic Council's Young Atlanticist Program for a roundtable discussion with prominent artists and scientists to discuss the role of visual arts in communicating Arctic climate change science to the public, and the next generation of scientists. Presenters include Dr. John Farrell, executive director of the US Arctic Research Commission


AOOS Film Contest, Submission Deadline September 15, 2014.






















USARC header


Edit Module