NOAA releases annual Arctic report card

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its annual Arctic report card on December 17, which analyzes climatic trends in the region.

State Department announces priorities for Arctic Council chairmanship

On October 23, the U.S. State Department announced that climate change adaptation and mitigation will be top priorities when the U.S. assumes the chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2015.

Alaska commission asks that resource development be priority for Arctic Council

The Alaska Arctic Policy Commission has asked the U.S. State Department to prioritize Arctic resource extraction during the 2 year U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council starting in 2015.

House hearing on U.S. Arctic policy discusses need for new icebreakers, stronger leadership

The House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation held a hearing on July 23 to discuss U.S. policy in the Arctic. Scientists and representatives from the military discussed the need for new icebreaker vessels and greater U.S. leadership in the Arctic.

EARTH Magazine: Parasites spread across the Arctic under the "new normal"

The last several decades have seen Arctic sea-ice minimums drop by more than half in area and more than three-quarters in volume. With current models predicting further reductions, scientists are calling it the “new normal” and are trying to grasp its implications — one of which is the occurrence of pathogens never before seen in the Arctic.

EARTH Magazine: Scientists go to Extremes to Monitor Arctic Permafrost Lost

Join EARTH Magazine and guest writer Irina Overeem on an expedition that pitted a team of scientists against rapid erosion in the Arctic.

EARTH: Arctic Humidity on the Rise

The Arctic is getting warmer and wetter. As temperatures rise and sea ice melts, scientists suspect that system feedback cycles may further speed up the warming process. Now, a new study out of the University of Colorado at Boulder is showing how shifting patterns of humidity may bring about changes in the Arctic atmosphere.

EARTH: U.S. Navy Navigates a Sea Change in the Arctic

The idea that the Arctic is changing is not breaking news. Sea-ice extent has been declining by 12 percent per decade since 1979, and the ice is thinning too. Because of this, new shipping routes are becoming accessible during the summer months, and the Arctic is beginning to attract parties interested in resource exploration, scientific research and tourism. Therefore, a more accessible Arctic not only means environmental changes, but also changes in our economy and our national security.

EARTH: Finding New Oil and Gas Frontiers

Where to next in the search for oil and gas? EARTH examines several possible new frontiers - including the Arctic, the Falkland Islands, the Levant, Trinidad and Tobago and Sudan - where oil and gas exploration are starting to take hold. One of those places, Sudan, is in the news for other reasons: South Sudan voted yesterday on whether to secede from North Sudan.

American Geosciences Institute

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