The Russian polar icebreaker Kapitan Dranitsyn has set a record by going further north under its own power to complete a supply run to a multinational expedition adrift in the high Arctic. The expedition is designed to improve scientific understanding of climate change which evidently is accelerating sea-ice melt. [node:read-more:link]
Finland’s military attaché at its embassy in Washington, Col Petteri Seppala, says the Arctic Forum established by Canada and seven other northern nations in 1996 is “too limited” in scope to address defence concerns, and is constrained by its historical focus on science, environmental issues and economic development. He aired his concerns at a May 7 online forum on Arctic security organized by the Wilson Center, a nonpartisan think-tank in Washington. [node:read-more:link]
At a time when tensions between Russia and its Arctic neighbors are increasing, its interests and ambitions in the region for at least the next 15 years are essentially unchanged. A new paper from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, comparing Russia’s latest policy framework with one published in 2008, indicates that the Arctic remains the main resource base for economic growth. [node:read-more:link]
The Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has received a U.S. Navy contract worth more than $12 million to develop unmanned submarine vehicles and buoys as well as a communications and data sharing network. The stated goal is enhanced monitoring of environmental changes in the Arctic. [node:read-more:link]
The Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has received a U.S. Navy contract worth more than $12 million to develop unmanned submarine vehicles and buoys as well as a communications and data sharing network. The stated goal is enhanced monitoring of environmental changes in the Arctic. [node:read-more:link]
Shrinking sea ice in the Arctic, resulting in a longer navigable season, is accelerating a race among global powers for control over its waters and resources. China and Russia have been particularly assertive. [node:read-more:link]
Unprecedented physical, social, economic and geopolitical shifts in the Arctic present a “considerable impact” on the region’s security, according to a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Ekaterina Klimenko writes that security issues too often are handled in isolation from each other. Her observations flow from a SIPRI workshop in London last year. [node:read-more:link]
A German year-long research mission in the Arctic has confirmed that permanent sea ice continues to disappear due to global warming. “The ice is disappearing and if in a few decades we have an ice-free Arctic, this this will have a major impact on the climate around the world,” the chief scientist says. [node:read-more:link]
New satellite imagery of an already fractured ice shelf north of Ellesmere Island shows that an 80km2 section has broken off and then split into two segments which drifted into the Arctic Ocean in late July. Ellesmere was once bounded by extensive shelves covering 8,600km2 but global warming has resulted in continued shrinkage to less than 500km2. [node:read-more:link]
New satellite imagery of an already fractured ice shelf north of Ellesmere Island shows that an 80km2 section has broken off and then split into two segments which drifted into the Arctic Ocean in late July. Ellesmere was once bounded by extensive shelves covering 8,600km2 but global warming has resulted in continued shrinkage to less than 500km2. [node:read-more:link]
New satellite imagery of an already fractured ice shelf north of Ellesmere Island shows that an 80km2 section has broken off and then split into two segments which drifted into the Arctic Ocean in late July. Ellesmere was once bounded by extensive shelves covering 8,600km2 but global warming has resulted in continued shrinkage to less than 500km2. [node:read-more:link]
In what is described as “the first overall assessment of Canada's Arctic Ocean”, dozens of federal scientists and Inuit observers have concluded that the region may be changing faster than any other body of water on the planet, with economic and strategic implications. “As the Arctic changes, the rest of the ecosystem is going to track with those changes,” says the project's lead scientist, Andrea Niemi of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. “There isn't going to be a delay.” [node:read-more:link]
The U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Polar Star is back at its Seattle base after the first winter deployment of a U.S. government surface vessel since 1982. The only U.S. icebreaker rated for “heavy” ice, it transited the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea into the Chukchi Sea. [node:read-more:link]
Climate change and Chinese expansionism have been identified as key Arctic challenges by the Acting Chief of the Defence Staff, LGen Wayne Eyre, in a note to Canadian Armed Forces personnel. “Various trends such as climate change, increased interest in the Arctic, and challenges to our national resilience . . . are driving change in how we conceptualize national defence,” he wrote. [node:read-more:link]
Public Safety and Security issues are on the verge of getting out of hand. The issues identified in this article require the attention and action of the ruling government and opposition MPs to ensure Canadians' safety and security are appropriately protected. [node:read-more:link]
