Video - Arctic Emergency: Scientists on Melting Arctic Ice

In this video climate scientists address how rising temperatures in the Arctic are contributing the melting sea ice, thawing permafrost, and destabilization of a system that has been called "Earth's Air Conditioner". They make the point that global warming is here and is impacting weather patterns, natural systems, and human life around the world - and the Arctic is central to these impacts.

Balken Flooding and the Costs of Climate Change

Much of the former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Bosnia and Croatia) is under water and hundreds of thousands of buildings are inundated across the region. Some of the worst flooding ever experienced in the area has killed almost 50 people and triggered more than three thousand landslides.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated and millions of people are affected. People all across the region are cut off with no water, food, power or communications. The floods are exposing some of the more than one hundred thousand mines and driving the biggest mass migration in the Balkans since the war in the 1990s. 

Implications of Arctic Heat: Less Ice and More Global Warming

The Arctic continues to warm and ocean sea ice continues to retreat at an alarming pace. This has dramatic implications that are both global and local. Arctic ice has been both retreating and thinning in volume for four decades.

As reported in the Ecologist, the latest study by Stroeve et al. from the University College London, was published in Geophysical Research Letters. This study shows that the ice-free period is increasing by 5 days every decade. In some regions of the Arctic, the autumn freeze is now up to 11 days later every decade.

The research examined satellite imagery of the Arctic for the last 30 years. They found that the ice is melting and the increasing exposure to sunlight means that greater quantities of energy are being absorbed by the Earth.

Alaska's Record Breaking Heat in January Offers More Evidence for a Dramatically Warmer Arctic

While the continental US was being slammed with a succession of cold spells and winter storms in January, Alaska was experiencing some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded for the month. Temperatures were as much as 40°F (22°C) above normal. The all-time warmest January temperature ever observed in Alaska was tied on January 27 when the temperature peaked at 62°F (16.7°C) in Port Alsworth.

The NASA map (above left) shows the temperature anomalies in Alaska for January 23–30, 2014. Those areas which experienced higher than average temperatures compared to the 2001–2010 average for the same week are highlighted in red. The map is based on data from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite.

Save the Arctic from a "Death Spiral"

In last 30 years, we’ve lost as much as three-quarters of the floating sea ice cover at the top of the world. Satellite images reveal that the volume of that summer sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk so fast that scientists say it’s now in a ‘death spiral’. Due to human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, the Arctic may soon be ice free in the summer for the first time in over 800,000 years.

This will be devastating for polar bears, narwhals, walruses and other species that live there. It will also have profoundly destructive consequences for people all around the world as the Arctic helps to regulate global weather patterns and as a consequence has a powerful impact on global agriculture.

Infographic - People Living Less than 5m Above Sea Level

Event - Flooding Conference 2014 with CIWEM RCG

Flooding Conference 2014 will take place on January 30 at the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), 15 John Street, London. The subtitle for this event is, "Delivering Flood & Coastal Schemes & Projects Partnering, Joint Funding and Frameworks, Developing Practice and Emerging Lessons."

Aim

The ways of working and funding arrangements involved in the delivery of major flood and coastal schemes and projects are changing fast. The aim of this conference for flood and erosion risk professionals will be to showcase the developing and innovative partnership approaches to the effective delivery of schemes and projects. This will include the identification of the multiple benefits, working with partners, large consortia projects, framework agreements, shared services agreements, different contractual arrangements and risk management

The Costs of Flood Damage will Rise Along with Sea Levels

Flooding is a very expensive corollary of global warming. While we cannot connect individual weather events directly to global warming, the storm that hit Europe in early December is nonetheless a powerful reminder of what the future will look like as the world continues to warm. Much of the billion dollars worth of damage caused by Xaver is due to flooding caused by storm surges.

As global warming continues and ice keeps melting, sea levels will keep rising which will increase the damage caused by storm surges. A warmer planet not only increases the volume of sea water, it is also expected to increase precipitation in places that need it least. As reported by 350.org, global warming has already raised global sea level about 20 cm since 1880, and the rate of rise is accelerating. Scientists expect roughly 60 to 210 more cm of sea level rise this century, depending on whether or not we can limit greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs).

Flooding is a very costly phenomenon. A 2013 study in Nature concluded that flooding could cost the world’s cities $60 billion a year, even with major investments in flood protection. If we don’t make those investments, the cost could be up to $1 trillion a year.

Talk - The Race to the North Pole: Climate Change and Biodiversity in Canada

The race to the North Pole: climate change and biodiversity in Canada will take place on Wednesday, December 11, 2013, at the University of Ottawa, Biosciences Complex – RM 140, 30 Marie Curie St., Ottawa, Ontario. The reception will take place at 6 pm and the presentation will commence at 7 pm. Parking is available in parking lot V (In front of Marion Hall). The Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa is pleased to invite National Capital Region community members to this special evening with Department of Biology professor Jeremy Kerr (BSc ’93 – Biology).

Video - Richard Branson on the Need to Protect the Arctic

In this video, Richard Branson, explains why we all have to do everything within our power to protect the Arctic.

Video - The Arctic is Under Threat from Shell and Gazprom

The fossil fuel companies Shell and Gazprom have ambitious plans to exploit the Arctic's oil and gas reserves. Scientists have made it clear that to avoid the worst impacts of a hot planet (ie 6 degree temperature increase) we must leave the vast majority of carbon reserves underground. Arctic drilling increases global warming and imperils Arctic ecology. We know that drilling for oil and gas inevitably leads to spills. To make matters worse Gazprom's old and outdated drilling equipment present an elevated level of risk. Drilling in the Arctic will devastate the region's fragile ecosystem which is already suffering from a warming world.

Video - Sea Level Rise: A Slow-Motion Disaster

Sea-level rise is a slow-moving threat that presents a tremendous risk to some of America's most populous cities. As climate change drives sea levels higher, and more Americans than ever are calling the coastal U.S. home, cities like Miami, New York and New Orleans will likely face billions of dollars in flood-related damages per year if nothing is done to address climate change. The Center for American Progress visited Norfolk, Virginia, a city on the front-lines of the fight against rising seas, to talk to residents and community leaders about their efforts to save the city and learn to live with the water. One thing is clear: doing nothing is not an option.

Video - The Global Implications of Rapid Climate Change in the Arctic

Paul Beckwith is a part time professor at the University of Ottawa and a post graduate studying and researching abrupt climate change, with a focus on the arctic.

Why Greens are Seeing Red in the 2013 Australian Elections

Hopes for a government serious about combating climate change in Australia were crushed by Labor party infighting. The election of a right of center coalition led by Tony Abbot spells the end of Australia's hope to play a leading role combating climate change. Kevin Rudd wrestled the leadership from Labor Prime Minister Julia Eileen Gillard after she demonstrated strong green leadership. Rudd ended Gillard's political career in a savage act of overt betrayal that may have cost labor the election and ended Australia's hopes for government leadership on climate change.

Geothermal Heating Accelerating Greenland's Ice Melt

Everyone who follows the issue of melting ice knows that Northern ice is melting, but a new study shows that it is not only melting from above due to global warming, it is also melting from below. The fact that the ice is melting from above and below has important implications for scientific models.

The international research initiative IceGeoHeat led by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences published their research in Nature Geoscience. The continental ice sheets play a central role in climate. GFZ scientists Alexey Petrunin and Irina Rogozhina have created a model which calculates ice melt from geothermal forces.

Video - Massive Costs Associated with Arctic Methane

Global warming has been melting the permafrost for decades and this is releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The implications for the economy are staggering as associated costs are expected to be in excess of 60 trillion. To put this number in perspective the global economy was valued at 70 trillion in 2012.

Video - Unlocking Methane in the Permafrost is a Global Warming Time Bomb

Methane has been locked in the permafrost of the far north for thousands of years, but it is being released because of the thaw associated with global warming. The permafrost has been thawing rapidly over the last three decades and if this trend continues the consequences could be catastrophic. Referred to as a methane pulse, vast amounts of this destructive GHG could be released into the atmosphere. This will profoundly exacerbate global warming and may push us pass irreversible tipping points.

The Race to Exploit the Arctic's Resources Ignores the Costs

Rather than just look myopically at the economic benefits of melting Arctic ice we need to calculate the economic impacts. As explained in a recent report, the disastrous economic impacts of a warming Arctic are not being adequately investigated. Neither the World Economic Forum (WEF) in its Global Risk Report nor the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its World Economic Outlook recognizes the potential economic threat from changes in the Arctic.

Melting Arctic ice is exposing vast mineral deposits as well as 30 percent of the worlds as yet untapped gas and 13 percent of untapped oil. We can also expect an ice free Arctic to give way to a number of new shipping routes. Lloyd’s of London has estimated that in the next decade we could see $100 billion investment the Arctic.

White Paper - Oil Spills in Arctic Waters

This White Paper is a compilation of research on oil spills in ice-covered Arctic waters and it offers suggestions for future study. It is subtitled, "An Introduction and Inventory of Research Activities and USARC Recommendations."  The authors identify research entities in governmental, nongovernmental, industrial, and private organizations, and provide an inventory of research projects.

Given that much work is currently in progress, they provide only a snapshot in time, and an introduction to the topic. While an in-depth evaluation of the research results, a prioritization of research and development gaps, and a critical examination of the connection between research and oil spill response capability are undoubtedly important topics, they are beyond the scope of this effort.

More Evidence that Arctic Warming is an Economic and Ecological Time Bomb

Although our understanding of the Arctic is far from complete, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests melting Arctic ice will free massive deposits of methane locked in the permafrost of the far north. This represents an unprecedented danger both economically and ecologically. The latest evidence for this ticking time bomb was presented in a report by Gail Whiteman, Chris Hope & Peter Wadhams presented in the journal Nature.

Melting Arctic ice is expected to have far reaching impacts well beyond the far north. One of the most grievous threats comes from the release of methane trapped in the permafrost beneath the East Siberian Sea. The authors estimate that the cost of a massive methane release off the northern coast of Russia alone is $60 trillion. This is a startling figure when we consider that the value of the global economy in 2012 was estimated to be $70 trillion.