Arctic sea ice set to reach its lowest extent ever recorded

Arctic sea ice set to reach its lowest extent ever recorded

Ice volume in the Arctic has declined dramatically over the past decade.  Unprecedented rate of Arctic sea ice melt is set to reach its lowest extent ever recorded by the end of this week.Current melt rate of more than 100,000 square kilometers per day is expected

Rapid ice melt opens Arctic’s Northwest Passage

Rapid ice melt opens Arctic’s Northwest Passage

Ice retreated rapidly in the Parry Channel between mid-July and early August 2012. Parry Channel is a part of elusive Northwest Passage. The loss of Arctic sea ice is predicted to open up the Northwest Passage, shortening shipping routes and facilitating the exchange

Satellite images show flooding in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

Satellite images show flooding in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland

Recent satellite images show flooding in Kangerlussuaq, a key air transportation hub on Greenland. Located in southwestern Greenland roughly 125 kilometers (75 miles) from the coast, Kangerlussuaq, or Kanger, hosts one of the island’s busiest commercial airports.

Tropical plankton invades Arctic waters

Tropical plankton invades Arctic waters

Scientists have identified tropical and subtropical species of marine protozoa living in the Arctic Ocean for the first time. It looks like they traveled thousands of miles on Atlantic currents and ended up above Norway with an unusual-but naturally cyclic-pulse of

97% of the Greenland’s ice sheet surface melted in mid-July

97% of the Greenland’s ice sheet surface melted in mid-July

Greenland’s surface ice cover melted over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations in period of merely few days this month. Nearly the entire ice cover of Greenland, from its thin, low-lying coastal edges to its two-mile-thick

Aurora australis over Concordia station in Antarctic

Aurora australis over Concordia station in Antarctic

Scientist Alexander Kumar from European Space Agency (ESA) and his colleague Erick Bondoux photographed a stunning image showing Aurora Australis – the Southern Lights – glowing over Concordia station in the Antarctic, one of the remotest places on Earth. Image

Massive iceberg breaks off from Petermann Glacier on Greenland

Massive iceberg breaks off from Petermann Glacier on Greenland

Another spectacular event on Greenland this year is second big calving of Petermann Glacier, following retreats of the Jakobshavn Glacier and lowest reflectivity of the Greenland ice sheet on record. This calving was expected to happen, as the rift in the glacier has

Are we facing an end of Antarctic as we know it?

Are we facing an end of Antarctic as we know it?

Regional warming, over-fishing, pollution, invasive species creeping into the area, ocean acidification and loss of sea ice around South Pole region are the most immediate threats for waters around Antarctic. And all those threats are linked to global levels of carbon

Unusual sea ice retreat in the Beaufort Sea

Unusual sea ice retreat in the Beaufort Sea

Sea ice retreat in June is typical, as the summer solstice approaches in the Northern Hemisphere with long hours of sunlight to warm the Arctic and melt snow and sea ice. However, the first half of June 2012 brought unusually rapid ice loss.One area of rapid ice