Enlarge / A mining operation inside the Arctic Circle. (credit: BeyondImages / Getty Images ) As the world warms, countries with holdings in the Arctic are increasingly eyeing the region for development and use. As Ars reported last July, the frigid polar zone might be open to increased shipping, as it remains free of ice […]
Enlarge / Polar bear ( Ursus maritimus ) standing upright on fjord ice at Sabinebukta Bay at Irminger Point on a summer morning. (credit: Paul Souders / Getty Images ) The Arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the world. Because of that warming, some organisms are adapting by shifting their natural […]
Enlarge / As the world continues to warm, scenes like this will occur for a smaller fraction of the year. (credit: Alexander Ryumin / Getty Images ) Traveling by boat through Canada’s Arctic waters is no easy feat. Beyond the ice and the cold, the particular region is one of typically the most complex geographies […]
Enlarge / White smoke rising from the tundra in front of the Baird Mountains. (credit: Western Arctic National Parklands (CC BY 2.0)) Each winter, as snow blankets Alaska and northern Canada, the wildfires of the summer extinguish, and calm prevails—at least on the surface. Beneath all that white serenity, some of those fires actually continue […]
Enlarge / Lightning strikes in the far north of Canada. (credit: Sandra Angers-Blondin) The Arctic isn’t doing so hot. That’s because it is, in fact, too hot. It’s warming at least twice as fast as the rest of the planet, which is setting off vicious feedback loops that accelerate change. Ice, for instance, is more […]
Enlarge (credit: Science & Society Picture Library | Getty Images) Researchers have long debated what the 10-foot-long tooth that erupts from a narwhal’s head is actually for. Perhaps it has something to do with sexual selection, and males with longer horns attract more females. Or maybe the things sense salinity. Or perhaps a narwhal uses […]
Enlarge (credit: Person-with-No Name) The Arctic Ocean is many things. Cold and icy come to mind, of course, but “salty” should as well—it’s an ocean, after all. Yet a new study suggests that during certain ice age periods, the Arctic Ocean and the adjacent Greenland and Norwegian Seas (you can guess where those are if […]