Year-round ice-free conditions across the surface of the Arctic Ocean could explain why the Earth was substantially warmer during the Pliocene Epoch than it is today, despite similar concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to new research carried out at the University of Colorado Boulder. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Filed under: Energy, Oil & Gas Industry, Economy
By DAN JOLING
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — ConocoPhillips Alaska says it will delay its 2014 plans for exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska’s northwest coast.
In a press release, the company, a unit of ConocoPhillips Co. (COP), announced that it will put its Chukchi (chuk-CHEE’) Sea drilling plans on hold “because of uncertainties of evolving federal regulatory requirements and operational permitting standards.”
It says it wouldn’t be prudent at this time to devote the financial resources needed to preserve the option to drill.
ConocoPhillips Alaska President Trond-Erik Johansen says the company is confident in its ability to safely drill but that more time is needed to ensure that all regulatory stakeholders are aligned.
An environmental group opposed to drilling hailed the decision.
Chris Krenz of Oceana says specific Arctic standards must be put in place before drilling is allowed.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
The first study of its kind to calculate the amount of nutrients entering and leaving the Arctic Ocean has been carried out by scientists based at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
(Phys.org) —Last September, at the end of the northern hemisphere summer, the Arctic Ocean‘s icy cover shrank to its lowest extent on record, continuing a long-term trend and diminishing to about half the size of the average summertime extent from 1979 to 2000. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Is it Easter or Christmas? Many Europeans would be forgiven for being confused by winter’s icy grip on lands that should be thawing in springtime temperatures by now.
Britain is on track for the coldest March since 1962, according to national weather service the Met Office, which also says daily low temperatures in London are going to remain below freezing through the Easter holiday. The mean temperature in Britain from March 1-26 was 2.5 C (36.5 F) — three degrees below the long-term average.
In Berlin, Good Friday saw a new round of snowfall and temperatures just above freezing. The city’s popular lakeside beach opened for the season as planned, though it wasn’t exactly beach weather. Some visitors built a snowman and few ventured into the freezing water.
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What’s going on?
As always when you talk about weather, natural variability is a big factor. But an increasing body of research suggests that cold spells like the one that has lingered in northern and central Europe for much of March could become more common as a result of global warming melting the Arctic ice cap.
Q: Why is it so cold in much of Europe right now?
A: Normally, European winters are kept relatively mild by wet, westerly winds from the Atlantic. But in March, the wind has been blowing mostly from the northeast, bringing freezing Arctic air down over much of Europe.
Q: So why are the winds coming from the northeast?
A: The winds are driven by atmospheric circulation patterns which in turn are affected by differences in air pressure between northern and southern latitudes. For much of March this circulation has been in a negative state, meaning the pressure difference is small. That weakens the westerly Atlantic winds and paves the way for cold air to sweep down over Europe from the Arctic and Siberia.
Q: What does that have to do with Arctic sea ice?
A: Global warming is melting the ice cap over the Arctic Ocean. Last September, it reached its lowest extent on record. Climate models show that the loss of sea ice — which acts as a …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By The Huffington Post News Editors
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Oil and Gas Association plans to sue over a federal decision to list as threatened two types of ice seals.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in December that ringed seals and bearded seals in the Arctic Ocean would be protected under the Endangered Species Act. These joined polar bears as species listed as threatened by loss of sea ice.
The oil and gas group says in a news release that there is “no scientific evidence linking climate change now or in the future” to adverse effects on the seals. The group says scientific data indicate the populations are healthy. It also says there’s no evidence oil and gas activities pose a foreseeable threat to seals.
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A Russian cruise ship with only rats aboard is floating aimlessly in the North Atlantic, hundreds of miles off the coast of Newfoundland after breaking loose from a tugboat.
The MV Lyubov Orlova — named after an iconic Russian film actress — was being towed to a scrapyard in the Dominican Republic when a cable snapped, leaving the 295-foot vessel adrift. A brief effort to re-secure the boat was abandoned days later due to rough seas. As of Tuesday, the ship was roughly 760 miles off the coast of Newfoundland and 1,125 miles from Ireland, a U.S. intelligence agency told FoxNews.com.
“We continue to receive information about the ship’s location, and will issue message when needed to facilitate safe navigation,” Christine Phillips, a spokeswoman for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
The 37-year-old, Yugoslavia-built ship is slowly floating toward Europe. Phillips said she was unaware of any government-led efforts by any country to secure or salvage the Orlova.
Nine days after its initial departure, the ship was reportedly spotted by the Atlantic Hawk, an oil platform supply vessel that was able to intercept and briefly secure the Lyubov Orlova until Feb. 4. But Transport Canada — Canada’s transportation authority — then ordered it be cut loose since the ship had left the country’s waters and was in potentially dangerous seas with waves of up to 23 feet and 80 mph wind gusts.
“Continued efforts to tow the the Lyubov Orlova would have caused unacceptable risk to the crews of the towing operation,” Transport Canada spokeswoman Marie-Eve Higo wrote in an email to The Globe and Mail.
The agency said the ship’s owner was now responsible for its movements.
“The vessel has drifted into international waters, and given current patterns and predominant winds, it is very unlikely that the vessel will re-enter waters under Canadian jurisdiction,” the department said in a statement last month.
The ship, at the time, was roughly 50 nautical miles outside of Canadian waters and was moving northeasterly, according to the Transport Canada statement.
Phillips said the Canadian Coast Guard later relayed the location of the derelict vessel to NGA officials. NGA officials, in turn, informed mariners through the World Wide Navigational Warning Service on Feb. 19, Phillips said.
The owner of the ship, according to court records cited by The Globe and Mail, is Hussein Humayuni, owner of Neptune International Shipping Inc. A message seeking comment from Neptune officials by FoxNews.com was not immediately returned on Wednesday.
The ship’s current status is not the first time it has made headlines. Due to a reported financial dispute between Cruise North Expeditions, which wanted to charter the ice-fortified ship for summer cruises in the Arctic Ocean, the vessel was seized in St. John’s when it arrived in September 2010. Local residents reportedly donated food, clothing and other necessities to the stranded crew of 44 until they could be repatriated to Russia three months later.
Barista Uno, a blogger who writes about maritime issues, said the ship likely poses no danger as long as it is far from land or shipping lanes.
“I’m not …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
Shipping lanes through the Arctic Ocean won’t put the Suez and Panama canals out of business anytime soon, but global warming will make these frigid routes much more accessible than ever imagined by melting an unprecedented amount of sea ice during the late summer, new UCLA research shows. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s (RDSA) plans to send its two offshore drilling rigs to Asia for extensive repairs will likely mean the cancellation of its second summer of drilling in the U.S. Arctic Ocean, unless it can find replacements fit to do the work – something that may prove to be a challenge. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
Tracking the origin of driftwood samples could help scientists to reconstruct past currents in the Arctic Ocean, a new study suggests. Arctic currents are likely to be affected by changing climate, but there are few observations that provide evidence on past current dynamics.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
The U.S. government has launched a “high-level” review of accidents and mishaps experienced by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSB) after it started drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean last year.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
The U.S. government has launched a “high-level” review of accidents and mishaps experienced by Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSB) as it started the process of oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean last year.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox Business Headlines
