Some Canadian botanists will be going on a month long trip in an isolated corner of the Canadian North in order to gather more than 1,000 plant samples.  The hope is that by gathering these plant samples, they will be able to track some of the impacts of climate change happening in the area. more »

Canadian historian Gwynne Dyer says the Arctic passage for cargo ships will never be heavily used and its potential is highly exaggerated. Dyer also believes that the current fight over an ice free Arctic passage is being highly overblown.

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Yesterday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin gave the okay for French oil company Total to expand into Russia. The decision came shortly after Total joined forces with Russia’s largest independent gas producer in a joint exploration venture. more »

Upgrading of ships’ equipment and components, strengthening their hulls against heavy ice, minimizing emissions and improving their icebreaking abilities must be implemented in order to establish regular year-round trans-Arctic trade route says Det Norske Veritas (DNV). more »

Canadian Navy Vice Admiral Dean McFadden believes that the Canadian Navy remains the strongest choice to patrol the Arctic seas, despite the fact that the country’s proposed icebreakers look a lot like its coast guard ships. more »

The first transmission of a seal-killing virus that started in the Atlantic Ocean has been documented in a population of Pacific sea otters in Alaska.  The transmission of the disease from the Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Sea is the first sign that melting Arctic ice not only affects the habitat of Arctic animals, like polar bears and seals, but also makes it easier for pathogens to travel into the area and into the Arctic wildlife. more »

A new way of tracking polar bears will not only help keep tabs of the Arctic animals, but also gives trackers an easier and more cost efficient way of doing their job. The three part method, developed at Queen’s University by biologists Peter V.C. de Groot and Peter Boag, combines traditional methods of Inuit hunting with up to date genetic DNA analysis and is less stressful on the polar bears than the current method of tracking then from a helicopter, tranquilizing and then marking them. more »

Canada’s Transport Minister, John Baird, announced yesterday that amendments to the country’s Arctic Waters Pollution Prevention Act, Canadian Arctic waters will be better protected against pollution.  The amendments received royal assent on the 11^th of June and mean that Canada will extend the protection its Arctic waters are receiving and the country will have more control over what happens in those waters. more »