When Pen Hadow and his Catlin Arctic Survey team headed out on their scientific trip to the North Pole, they had most likely assumed that they would run into a problem here or there.  But their Arctic expedition has been plagued with problems from the start; including temperatures well bellow -70 with the wind chill and stormy conditions that delayed their food supplies from being dropped off to them.  more »

With the rising attention to global warming, particularly in the Arctic, the polar bear has become a sort of mascot, reminding everyone what is at stake.  So you may find it hard to believe that, despite the fact that the number of polar bears are dwindling and as Arctic ice becomes thinner and weaker they are in even more danger, people pay big bucks to hunt the Arctic polar bear. more »

In a forecast released on Friday by Alaska’s Department of Revenue, the upcoming fiscal year will see a drop in oil production and also a decrease in the average price of crude oil.  An expected 5 percent drop in oil output coupled with the lowering price of crude oil is expected to result in lower income for Alaska. more »

While Canada and the United States work together to attempt to overcome their differences in regards to Arctic sovereignty and shipping rights in the Arctic Ocean, Canada and Russia continue to openly disagree and fight about the Arctic. Despite a recent meeting between Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon and Russia’s Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,  the two countries cannot see eye to eye on who has the rights to parts of the Arctic Ocean. more »

Canadian and Danish scientists getting set to launch a joint aerial mapping survey over the Arctic Ocean have already begun assembling at an ice camp on Ward Hunt Island, Canada’s northernmost piece of land, for this weekend’s launch of the mission. The mission could assist the two countries in extending the reach of their borders to the pole or beyond. more »

While Canada and the United States plan on working together to come up with a strategy for the Arctic, the two countries are polar opposite in some of their views on the melting area. The main area that the two disagree on is the Northwest Passage and its transit rights. Despite this difference of opinion, the two countries have vowed to work together. more »

According to NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center researchers and recent satellite images of the area, over 90 percent of the Arctic sea ice is only 1 or 2 years old.  This level of new ice means that it is thinner and weaker than any of the Arctic ice in the last three decades.

Unlike the thicker Arctic ice that is two years older or more, this new, thinner ice is melting in the spring and summer, meaning that it isn’t getting the chance to develop thicker layers.

On Monday, Walt Meier, an ice data center scientist voiced his concerns, saying, “We’re not set up well for summertime. We’re in a very precarious situation.”

Meier also says that the level of older, thicker Arctic sea ice was at a record wintertime low this year, covering only 378,000 square miles, accounting for 10 percent of Arctic ice.  This level is down 43 percent from last year.  He equates the lever of mature ice lost with an area the size of the state of Texas.  The amount of ice cover is the 5^th lowest since satellite imaging of the area started in 1979.

Waleed Abdalati, the director for the Center for the Study of Earth from Space also voices his concern over the ice situation.  “That thick ice really traps ocean heat; it keeps the planet in its current state of balance,” said Abdalati, who is also NASA’s former chief scientist, “When we start to diminish that, the state of balance is likely to change, tip one way or another.”

Meier says that we are already starting to see that tip in balance, “There’s already impacts, in terms of the climate, in terms of the people.”

The world’s governments will come together in the United States for a summit on the state of the North and South Poles on Monday. The purpose of the summit is to discuss the most important aspects of global warming.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will open the 2 week event, which will include government representatives and scientists from 47 countries.

Dealing with the poles may not be at the top of most governments’ climate agendas, so environmentalists hope to show that the poles provide the best insight into just how damaging global warming has been to the planet.

Polar ice is melting much faster than previously thought, according to a joint study last week by the US government’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington.

Arctic summers could be ice free within 30 years, says the study, and that could have a dramatic effect on global sea levels and temperatures. Previous reports had promised 100 years till ice free summers.

“It’s important that people understand that climate change in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. What happens there affects the rest of the world,” Neil Hamilton, director of the Arctic programme at the World Wildlife Fund, said in a conference call.

Baltimore, Maryland will be the actual local for the conference after Clinton’s send off in Washington early Monday morning. The conference will review the latest science, the impact of tourism and protecting the environment and species in the polar region.

Evan Bloom, a State Department official who will lead the US delegation to the summit, said climate change would also be a “major focus” of the talks as an ice breaker to the Copenhagen talks.

“All of these major gatherings have a relationship in a way to Copenhagen,” Bloom told reporters. “Certainly climate change is a major focus of what the discussions will be.”