Edmont Journal reports, the international Games give athletes from circumpolar countries a chance to compete in sports such as alpine skiing, speed skating, snowshoeing and dog mushing.

Team Alberta North brought 350 athletes who competed in 20 sports and represented 40 communities north of the 55th parallel.

The next Games will be held in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2012.

Washington DC:

The study was carried out by Rebecca A Woodgate and Ron Lindsay from Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, along with Tom Weingartner from the Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The researchers used observations from in situ moorings and satellite sea surface temperature measurements to quantify the heat flux through the Bering Strait into the Arctic.

They found that a substantial amount of heat is transferred through the Bering Strait and that this amount is highly variable from year to year.

In 2007, both the amount of water flowing through the strait and the temperatures were at record highs, according to the report’s authors.

They noted that the 2007 heat flux through the Bering Strait was twice the 2001 heat flux and was enough to account for a third of the Arctic sea ice lost in 2007.

Mayor Bruce Botelho is hosting a gathering of those interested in bringing the event to Juneau. The meeting will be held in the Assembly Chambers at 7 p.m. Thursday.

“Originally the brainchild of Governor (Walter) Hickel and Yukon officials in the late 1960s, the Games bring together nearly 2,000 young athletes, coaches and performers for sports competitions and cultural exhibitions every two years. Teams come from across the northern region, including Russia, Greenland, Canada, Alaska, and Sami (the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia),” said a press release from the city.

This year, the 21st games are being held in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, in March. Sports include alpine skiing, badminton, basketball, indoor soccer, hockey, gymnastics, speed skating, cross-country skiing, dog-mushing, wrestling, volleyball, figure skating, a snow-shoeing biathlon and more.

Alaska last hosted the 2006 games in Kenai.

CCTV – severe cold in northern hemisphere has revived arguments about climate change. In contrast to the global warming theory, some experts say the warming process has stopped, and the climate is actually becoming cooler. Some experts believe globe oceans experiencing a miniature Ice Age. They even think the cold weather could last for two or three decades.

Scientists draw their conclusions from water temperature data in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They say the data casts doubt on global warming theories, taking issue with beliefs such as there may be no ice within the Arctic Circle by the summer of 2013.

Data from US ice and snow studies show that since 2007, the amount of ice in the Arctic during summer increases by over 1 million square kilometers, about 26 percent of the original amount.

Some computer climate simulations show that global warming since 1900 was caused by human activities, with temperatures rising as more carbon dioxide is discharged. However, climate cooling theories throw over the previous speculation. Some scientists believe that the cause of the warming is that the oceans are in their warm period, and not from a warmer atmosphere.

Famous climate researcher Mojib Latif from Germany says, the oceans have their own warming and cooling cycles every 20 to 30 years. That’s why the cold around the world this winter is within estimates. Latif also says, temperatures in summer may also be lower. He concludes the earth is in a miniature Ice Age, and the cool trend could last 2 to 3 decades.

“The volume of ice locked up in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is equivalent to a sea level rise of around 3.3 meters. Our model shows how instability in the grounding line, caused by gradual climatic changes, has the potential to reach a ‘tipping point’ where disintegration of the ice sheet could occur,” Oxford University Department of Earth Sciences Professor Dr. Richard Katz says. He is also an author of the new report, entitled “Stability of ice sheet grounding lines,” which is published in the latest issue of the respected scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

Together with researchers from the Cambridge University, the Oxford team compiled a new model, which accounts for the changes that appear in the “grounding line.” This concept refers to the area where a floating ice sheet connects with the land. The scientists believe that changes in this line trigger the most severe and important effects, as far as an ice sheet’s ultimate faith goes. This simulation is currently relatively simple and straightforward, the British collaboration says, but plans are to further develop it in the near future.

The most important additions that the group wants to implement include the modeling of individual ice streams that exist at the grounding line, as well as the paths that sheets such as the WAIS take on the slopes of rock and sediments that separate their ground-based section from their floating one. “Global climate models often assume that, as the world warms, ice sheets will melt at a steady rate, leading to gradual rises in sea level – but ice sheets are much more complex structures than this. ‘We need to do a lot more work to build better models of how ice sheets behave in the real world. Only then can we start to predict how this behavior might change in the future as the climate changes,” Katz explains.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Jan. 8 (UPI) — A 27-year study of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea showed them spending more time on land and open water as ice disappeared, officials said.

Between 1979 and 1987, 12 percent of bear sightings were associated with no ice. Between 1997 and 2005, however, 90 percent of bear sightings were associated with no ice, said Karyn Rode, a polar bear biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska.

As sea ice disappeared, more bears were seen near shore in the southern Beaufort Sea, Rode said in a recent issue of the journal Arctic. Many scientists blame the warmer temperatures associated with climate change for the disappearance of the sea ice.

The number of bears sighted steadily near shore increased from 138 bears between 1979 and 1987, to 271 bears between 1988 and 1996, and 468 bears between 1997 and 2005, Rode said.

The bear observations and ice conditions were recorded as part of a bowhead whale survey conducted annually in the southern Beaufort Sea.

While addressing members of the Copenhagen summit, Gore backed up his opinion by quoting an international report from earlier this year that said that the North Pole could see a loss of all of its ice by the year 2015. But it seems that climatologist Wieslaw Maslowski, who provided the work that Gore’s claim is based on, said that there was a misinterpretation of his work. He claims that there is a 75% change that the North Pole could become completely ice free in the next 5 to 7 years.

But Gore is maintaining his position, stating that, “In the far north we know that the Arctic sea ice decline has also accelerated far, far beyond the expectation of the climate models. The April 2009 Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment, the result of a four-year study by the Arctic Council states, and I quote, ‘There is a possibility of an ice-free Arctic Ocean for a short period in summer perhaps as early as 2015’.”

Some scientists are outright rejecting Gore’s position, stating that he was supporting the extreme end of what could possibly happen.

Professor Jim Overland, who is one of the leading oceanographers at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, “Over the last two years we’ve learnt that it’s very difficult to melt the oldest ice at the North Pole. It would be almost impossible for this to happen within five years.”

Some other detractors aren’t being nearly as polite. Climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Richard Lindzen said, “Why would you take anything that Al Gore said seriously? He’s just extrapolated from 2007, when there was a big retreat in the sea ice, and got zero.”

Released yesterday, the Senate’s standing committee on fisheries and oceans states that regardless of their size, every foreign vessel that enters Canada’s Arctic waters should have to register with the Canadian Coast Guard’s Arctic marine traffic system, NORDREG.

As long as they don’t land and are only passing through, cruise ships, freight ships and other vessels currently register with NORDREG on a strictly volunteer basis.

In a press release, the chair of the Senate committee, Newfoundland and Labrador Sen. William Rompkey, said, “Full control over Arctic waters is a matter of sovereignty. It is also a matter of protecting the exceptionally fragile coastal and marine environment for northern residents — primarily the Inuit who have used those lands and waters for countless generations.”

The report also recommends the creation of a federal Arctic affairs cabinet committee in order to work with the three territorial governments in developing any policies that affect the Arctic. The cabinet would be chaired by Prime Minister Harper and include eight ministers who have portfolios that involve the north, and would consist of Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl, Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Defence Minister Peter MacKay.

The senate committee report also addresses the issue of the Northwest Passage, over which Canada claims ownership, but the United States say is an international waterway. The report urges the Canadian government to work together its American counterparts in order to resolve the issue of ownership of the waterway.

The report is based on information that the committee members gathered both in Ottawa and while on a tour of the western Arctic.

The Center for Biological Diversity filed the suit in Seattle on Thursday, Dec. 3.

“The pesticide crisis is a silent killer that threatens not only polar bears but the entire Arctic ecosystem,” said staff attorney Rebecca Noblin in a statement.

The suit alleges that EPA-approved pesticides are transported via wind and water to the Arctic, where they accumulate. The pesticides become biomagnified, with the highest concentrations in top-of-the-food-chain predators like polar bears.

Such pesticides have been linked to poor immune function, endocrine disruption and other defects in polar bears. Because the animals are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, the EPA has a legal obligation to protect the animals from the impacts of pesticides, the lawsuit says.

Pesticides don’t just affect the health of animals, says Pamela Miller of the Anchorage-based Alaska Community Action on Toxics organization.

People who live and eat traditional foods in the Arctic have some of the highest rates of toxic exposure, says Miller, and health problems to go along with.

Miller says that the lawsuit, the first legal challenge that links pesticides with toxic bioaccumulation in the Arctic, is an important step toward rectifying what she calls a serious environmental injustice.

“It’s an environmental injustice when people have to be concerned about the health and safety of traditional foods they eat.”

Marine mammals, like ring seals, that are part of traditional indigenous diets in the North have some of the highest accumulations of chemicals in their fat.

On the same day that the Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the EPA, Miller’s organization and 42 other groups sent a letter to EPA administrators asking them to ban the insecticide endosulfan, which they say is persistent, toxic and builds up in the bodies of humans.

“It’s important for the EPA to recognize the vulnerability of the Arctic when they make decisions about pesticides,” Miller said.

The “Arctic road map” is a strategic five year plan that will see the Navy take its fleet operations into the North in preparation for the anticipated ice free Arctic summers, which some scientists predict will take place in 2030.

The strategy mentions “strong partnerships” with the other Arctic nations, but even though the documentation attempts to be diplomatic, it is obvious that the United States is also going to do what it needs to do to protect its Arctic interests. Several other Arctic nations have already come forward and announced that they are going to be protecting their own Arctic interests. As the waterway becomes more ice free, increasing the potential for oil and gas development and shipping, this will most likely continue.

The document, which is 33 pages long and signed by Admiral Jonathan W. Greenert states, “This opening of the Arctic may lead to increased resource development, research, tourism, and could reshape the global transportation system. These developments offer opportunities for growth, but also are potential sources of competition and conflict for access and natural resources.”