During their recent Spring break, two Naval Academy students decided to do something a little different. Julie Barca, 23 and Leah Jordan, 22 both decided that they would like to spend two days of their vacation camping in the Arctic.  The two 1^st Class midshipmen spent their Arctic time at a temporary camp set up on the ice of the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Northern Alaska.

While it might seem odd that the pair decided to spend some of their week off in the Arctic, it made perfect sense to them. Jordan had wanted to visit Alaska for awhile, and Barca became interested in the region’s ice after taking a class in meteorology.

The two are oceanography majors and are planning on going into aviation after their May 22^nd commissioning.

“It just seemed too good to be true. I was just interested in oceanography,” Jordan said, “and doing this internship was killing two birds with one stone.”

Barca agreed with Jordan and was eager to use what she has learned in school. “It was just a unique opportunity that presented itself. The biggest thing for me was applying things I learned in the (academy) program.”

While in the Arctic, the naval students were working with researchers who were measuring water pressure under the ice along with the water’s salinity.  The information was being relayed to the USS Annapolis and the USS Helena, two navy subs working with the camp. Jordan and Barca also travelled by helicopter to a buoy further out that sends its reading back to Washington D.C.  As part of an ongoing research project through out the next year, Barca will continue to track and monitor the buoys readings.

While there is a navy presence at the camp, there are also civilians and international researchers there, adding to the mix.

Barca and Jordan are the first midshipmen to travel to the Arctic.

According to the newspaper The Kommersant, Russia is planning on making its Arctic region the country’s main strategic base by 2016.  And how does it plan on doing this?  By creating Arctic troops whose sole purpose will be maintaining the security of Russia’s section of the Arctic Ocean.

A posted document on Russia’s Security Council’s official website states that Arctic troops will be deployed to the area in order for Russia to uphold its security according to whatever political and military situation may arise.  As the ice in the region continues to melt and there is more of a struggle to maintain control over the oil and gas reserves in the Arctic, Russia is planning on doing everything it can to make sure that it doesn’t lose its piece of the pie.

Artur Chilingarov, Russia’s presidential envoy for international cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic told Reuters that, “Russia’s national interest lies there. We have worked in the Arctic and we are working there now. There is of course (competition)…But we are not going to stand still,”

Russia will respect any international treaties when it comes to the Arctic, Chilingarov said, and even wants to cooperate with the other countries with a stake in the Arctic.  But Russia has a special claim to sections of the Arctic that are flanking to Russia’s borders.

“Look at the map. Who is there nearby? All our northern regions are in or come out into the Arctic.  All that is in our northern, Arctic regions. It is our Russia.”

According to international law in regards to the Arctic, the five Arctic countries – United States, Canada, Norway, Russia and Denmark (Greenland) each has a 320 km economic zone north of each of their borders.  Russia is asserting its rights to a larger area that it’s 320 km, stating that the actual seabed underneath the Arctic is an extension of the Siberian continental shelf.

While those skeptical of the Russian claim believe that it is simply a power play by the country to gain back some of its international power, Chilingarov is very clear that the claim is based on science.

“Based on scientific observations, we will prove our connection to that shelf (and) we will prove it in the framework of international norms and laws.”

Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland will serve as a commissioner on the Aspen Institute’s Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change.  Brundtland was also Special Envoy on Climate Change to the United Nations Secretary General and is a former Norwegian Prime Minister. She will join other notable scientists, policy experts, and representatives from Arctic native peoples and environmental organizations such as WWF International and Shell Oil company.

“The Arctic is among the world’s first regions to experience dramatic ecological impacts due to climate change. Dr. Brundtland’s stature and influence will help focus the world’s attention on the Arctic at this critical stage in its history, and we are homered she will join us,” said David Monsma, executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program and the Commission.

In light of all the recent international activity in the Arctic caused by decreased ice coverage in the Arctic, Aspen Institute and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation convened a civil society Dialogue and Commission on Arctic Climate Change.

The Commission will meet to discuss whether current international laws are sufficient to protect the Arctic in the coming years. The commission will discuss such things as safe oil drilling, water rights and the safety of Arctic species. The Commission and its work groups will pay particular attention to the need for greater international cooperation in promoting conservation, sustainable development, and shared responsibility for the Arctic.

The Aspen Institute mission is twofold: to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues.

The Aspen Institute does this primarily in four ways: seminars, young-leader fellowships around the globe, policy programs, and public conferences and events.

The Institute is based in Washington, DC, Aspen, CO, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and has an international network of partners.

On Monday of this week, one of the top naval officers in Russia announced that it may use submarines in the future to help protect what it sees as its rightful part of the Arctic.

The RIA Novosti news agency was informed by Vice-Admiral Oleg Burtsev that Russia could use subs from its Northern Fleet to help with that country’s efforts to stake a claim in the Arctic region. 

According to Burtsev, who is the Russian Navy’s deputy chief of staff, it hasn’t been decided yet whether Russia will use its Navy submarines or robotic vehicles that work underwater.  Either way, one of the two will be assisting Russia in its claim on the Arctic shelf.

The Russian subs have previous experience maneuvering under the polar ice, as some of their combat training involves working under the Arctic ice. So, if Russia decides to use the submarines, there will be little training needed.

“In any case, Northern Fleet submarines will be used to either explore or protect Arctic territories adjacent to Russia,” Burtsev said in his Monday statement.

In 2007, Russia boldly descended two civilian manned mini-submarines to the Arctic seabed, where they not only collected samples of the water and geological items, but also left behind a titanium canister which held the Russian flag.

This latest announcement by Russia concerning its claim of a part of the Arctic will most likely annoy the other countries who also claim they own a rightful piece of the Arctic.  Canada, in particular, has been concerned over what they perceive to be Russia’s aggressiveness in the fight for the Arctic.

As the UN set deadline regarding the Arctic gets closer and the ice continues to melt, allowing for easier passage by ocean and easier access to the vast oil and gas reserves in the region, there is bound to be more conflict between the Arctic five.

Plumes of ash as high as nine miles spewed into the air Sunday as Mount Redoubt, near Anchorage Alaska, erupted at least four times.

Of the four eruptions the largest sent a cloud of ash into the air which drifted for miles, explained scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The first eruption, in a sparsely populated area across Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula, occurred at 10.38pm, Sunday (0638 Monday GMT) and the fourth happened at 1.39am, (0939 GMT) Monday, according to the observatory.

Mount Redoubt is roughly 100 miles southwest of Anchorage; however the ash is traveling away from the city toward Willow and Talkneetna, near Mount McKinley. 19 flights were cancelled by Alaskan Airlines out of Anchorage to be on the safe side.

This is the first eruption from the icy volcano in 20 years with the last eruption occurring in 1989.

Scientists in Alaska have been warning about the certainty of the volcano erupting since earlier this year when they first noticed it becoming restless.

On Sunday morning, just prior to the eruption, seismic readings were recording 40 to 50 mini earth quakes per hour.

“This is a fairly large eruption, close to the larger cities in Alaska,” said Geophysicist John Power.

He said a light dusting of ash was expected to fall on the Susitna Valley but no cities had yet reported any ash fall from the volcano.

An explosion had been expected for months which is why the observatory had been requested by Alaskan scientists and officials. Some politicians in more southern states had scoffed at the idea of an Alaskan volcano erupting on a scale that would endanger humans or require observation.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal chided the Democrats for funding monitoring of the volcano calling volcano monitoring an unnecessary frill in the government’s stimulus package. “While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending and includes $300-million to buy new cars for the government, $8-billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140-million for something called volcano monitoring,” Mr. Jindal said. “Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.”

A month later the residents of cities around Mount ReDoubt while watching 15 km plumes of ash belch into the air are very glad of the money spent of volcano monitoring and ash trackin

According to the World Wildlife Federation, the Arctic governments and industry in the Arctic are no more prepared today for a major oil spill than they were 20 years ago. Only a few days away from the 20^th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill (March 24^th), the WWF is asking that all new offshore oil development in the Arctic be halted until there is improvement in the technologies in place to make sure that if there is another major oil spill like the Exon Valdez, it can be properly cleaned up.

WWF’s vice president for marine and arctic policy, Bill Eichbaum, says,

“While new regulations are in place regarding response to oil spill disasters in the last 20 years, the Arctic itself has changed considerably and is much more vulnerable today. Sea ice is disappearing and open water seasons are lasting longer, creating a frenzy to stake claims on the Arctic’s rich resources – especially oil and gas development. Oil spills can be devastating to Arctic marine environments given the current lack of oil spill response capabilities. We need a ‘time-out’ until protections are in place for this fragile, extraordinary place.”

The WWF is also recommending that certain areas in the Arctic should be deemed “no-go zones”. These zones would never be allowed to be developed for oil and gas.  The WWF’s criteria for a “no-go zone” includes areas where an oil spill would create irreversible damage or an area in the Arctic where it would basically be impossible to clean up an oil spill.

The WWF cays that Bristol Bay should be one of these hands-off areas, since the fishing in that area brings in slated to bring in between 50-80 billion dollars over the next 25-40 years, whereas the oil and gas development in the area will only bring in around 7.7 billion dollars for that same time period.

Pen Hadow, Ann Daniels and Martin Hartley are no longer on half rations. The supply plane that the Catli Arctic Survey was waiting for finally got clear enough weather to get to them.  Hadow, Daniels, and Mr Hartley from England, on a 1,000km trek to measure the thickness of the Arctic ice cap, were down to three days worth of food provided they stayed on half rations. more »

While it seemed initially that the polar bear talks going on between the five Arctic countries was going to be open to other groups and observers, this has not proven to be the case.  Several groups have been barred from yesterday’s session, making them – and others – wonder what is going on behind the closed doors. more »