#arctique

En Arctique, la banquise fond et de nouvelles espèces apparaissent | National Geographic
▻https://www.nationalgeographic.fr/environnement/en-arctique-la-banquise-fond-et-de-nouvelles-especes-apparaissent

http://www.nationalgeographic.fr/sites/france/files/styles/desktop/public/glace.gif?itok=ZadMOzz3

Avec le réchauffement climatique, les espèces végétales et animales du sud de l’Arctique ont commencé à se déplacer vers le nord, rencontrant d’autres espèces. Résultat : elles se reproduisent entre elles, créant ainsi de nouvelles espèces. [...]

Le pizzly – croisement entre l’ours blanc et l’ours brun – parcourt déjà l’Arctique. Des études génétiques montrent que les ours blancs ont commencé à diverger des bruns au cours des 500 000 dernières années. Le réchauffement climatique menace de réunir les deux espèces.

« Il ne s’agit pas simplement d’un changement écologique, affirme Kelly. Il s’agit d’un changement évolutionniste – profondément accéléré. »

#climat #effondrement #collapsologie #catastrophe #fin_du_monde #it_has_begun #Anthropocène #capitalocène

Earth’s magnetic field is acting up and geologists don’t know why
▻http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00007-1

https://media.nature.com/w800/magazine-assets/d41586-019-00007-1/d41586-019-00007-1_16383826.jpg

#dyslexie_créative dirait Erratic motion of north magnetic pole forces US government shutdown.

#pôle #magnétique #arctique

Russie : la Route maritime du Nord désormais réglementée par Rosatom - REGARD SUR L’EST
▻http://regard-est.com/russie-la-route-maritime-du-nord-desormais-reglementee-par-rosatom

Russie : la Route maritime du Nord désormais réglementée par Rosatom
Céline BAYOUPublié le03/01/2019Économie

Le 28 décembre 2018, le Président russe a signé une loi aux termes de laquelle la société publique Rosatom réglementera désormais la navigation sur la Route maritime du Nord (passage du Nord-Est).

Le groupe, qui emploie plus de 250 000 collaborateurs et est engagé dans de multiples activités liées au nucléaire civil, va donc avoir prééminence sur l’Arctique russe, où la présence des navires ne cesse de s’accroître. Selon les données officielles, en 2018, près de 18 millions de tonnes de marchandises ont été transportées sur cette voie maritime, une hausse de 70 % par rapport à l’année précédente. Vladimir Poutine estime que cette croissance sera exponentielle, pour atteindre 80 millions de tonnes d’ici 2024.

#mer #arctique #transport_mariime

Scientists find massive reserves of mercury hidden in permafrost | EurekAlert! Science News

▻https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-02/agu-sfm020518.php

WASHINGTON D.C. — Researchers have discovered permafrost in the northern hemisphere stores massive amounts of natural mercury, a finding with significant implications for human health and ecosystems worldwide.

In a new study, scientists measured mercury concentrations in permafrost cores from Alaska and estimated how much mercury has been trapped in permafrost north of the equator since the last Ice Age.

The study reveals northern permafrost soils are the largest reservoir of mercury on the planet, storing nearly twice as much mercury as all other soils, the ocean and the atmosphere combined.

#arctique #mercure #pollution

Scientists find massive reserves of mercury hidden in permafrost
▻https://phys.org/news/2018-02-scientists-massive-reserves-mercury-hidden.html

https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/2018/5-scientistsfi.jpg

Researchers have discovered permafrost in the northern hemisphere stores massive amounts of natural mercury, a finding with significant implications for human health and ecosystems worldwide.

In a new study, scientists measured mercury concentrations in permafrost cores from Alaska and estimated how much mercury has been trapped in permafrost north of the equator since the last Ice Age.

The study reveals northern permafrost soils are the largest reservoir of mercury on the planet, storing nearly twice as much mercury as all other soils, the ocean and the atmosphere combined.

The new study was published today in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.

#arctique #pollution #mercure

De mystérieux microbes teintent le Groenland de rose, accélérant la fonte des glaces | National Geographic
▻https://www.nationalgeographic.fr/environnement/de-mysterieux-microbes-teintent-le-groenland-de-rose-accelerant-l

http://www.nationalgeographic.fr/sites/france/files/styles/desktop/public/01_antarctic_snow_algae_acaciajohnson_16.adapt_.1900.1.jpg?itok=GOlQ3fKi

« Ces algues sont des organismes photosynthétiques qui produisent des molécules qui les protègent du soleil. En été, en #Arctique, elles restent au-dessus de l’horizon jusqu’à 24 heures par jour », explique M. Tranter.

La surface plus foncée abaisse son « albédo » ou sa capacité à refléter la lumière du soleil dans l’espace, ce qui entraîne une plus grande absorption de lumière et une plus grande fonte des glaces.

Comme les algues se propagent sur de plus grandes surfaces de la calotte glaciaire, leurs effets ne devraient être que plus étendus, ce qui entraînera une fonte encore plus importante. Une étude récente a révélé que la prolifération des algues pouvait contribuer à faire fondre jusqu’à 13 % de glace en plus au cours d’une saison.

« C’est un cercle vicieux, comme cela arrive souvent avec le changement climatique », explique Joseph Cook, chercheur sur les glaciers à l’Université de Sheffield au Royaume-Uni et membre de l’équipe Black and Bloom. « Plus de chaleur signifie plus d’eau de fonte et une plus grande surface dans laquelle les algues peuvent se développer, ce qui rend la glace plus foncée et plus encline à fondre. »

#climat #fonte–des–glaces (pas seulement arctique) #algues

Arctic posts second warmest year on record in 2018 -U.S. NOAA | Agricultural Commodities | Reuters
▻https://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL8N1YG4NI

The Arctic had its second-hottest year on record in 2018, part of a warming trend that may be dramatically changing earth’s weather patterns, according to a report released on Tuesday by the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

“Arctic air temperatures for the past five years have exceeded all previous records since 1900,” according to the annual NOAA study, the 2018 Arctic Report Card, which said the year was second only to 2016 in overall warmth in the region.

It marks the latest in a series of warnings about climate change from U.S. government bodies, even as President Donald Trump has voiced skepticism about the phenomenon and has pushed a pro-fossil fuels agenda.

The study said the Arctic warming continues at about double the rate of the rest of the planet, and that the trend appears to be altering the shape and strength of the jet stream air current that influences weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

Greenland is losing ice at fastest rate in 350 years

▻http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07617-1

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Ice melt across Greenland is accelerating, and the volume of meltwater running into the ocean has reached levels that are probably unprecedented in seven or eight millennia. The findings, drawn from ice cores stretching back almost 350 years, show a sharp spike in melting over the past two decades.

Previous studies have shown record melting on parts of Greenland’s ice, but the latest analysis includes the first estimate of historical runoff across the entire ice sheet. The results, published on 5 December in Nature1, show that the runoff rate over the past two decades was 33% higher than the twentieth-century average, and 50% higher than in the pre-industrial era.

#arctique #climat #groënland

Siberian region fights to preserve permafrost as planet warms | Bangkok Post: news

▻https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1588110/siberian-region-fights-to-preserve-permafrost-as-planet-warms

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YAKUTSK, Russia: Eduard Romanov points to a spot on a block of flats where a major supporting beam has sagged and begun to crack, destabilising the nine storeys of apartments above.

Many houses in Yakutsk are made up of concrete panels and stand on stilts which ensure ventilation of the building’s underbelly and prevent it from heating the permafrost, the layer of mineral cemented together with water which is stable as long as it stays frozen. But warmer temperatures are threatening that

In Russia’s Siberian city of Yakutsk, one of the coldest on Earth, climate change is causing dangerous melting of the frozen ground, or permafrost, on which the buildings stand.

#climat #arctique #permafrost #russie

BBC - Future - The remote Arctic town that is melting away

▻http://www.bbc.com/future/gallery/20181109-qaanaaq-greenland-is-melting-away-from-climate-change

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As the Arctic loses ice at dramatic rates, people in Qaanaaq, the northernmost town in Greenland, are finding their homes, livelihoods, customs and very survival at risk.

#arctique #groenland #climat

Offshore drilling to begin in federal Arctic waters off Alaska

The Trump administration has approved the first series of oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean. Critics say the move could pose serious environmental risks, while the oil company Hilcorp promises jobs and investment.

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La présence de la #Russie en #Arctique : bases navales et aériennes, centres de secours pouvant servir pour des installations militaires.

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Jean Malaurie, « Oser, résister » N°854 | Radio Univers | Radio Univers
▻http://www.radio-univers.com/jean-malaurie-oser-resister-n854-2

Avant qu’il devienne l’avocat indéfectible des Esquimaux polaires, des autonomies inuit, les Hummocks du nord du Groënland « sentinelles de notre planète », rappelons qu’il fut le premier homme au monde, en 1951, à atteindre le pôle Nord magnétique en traîneau à chiens. Et qu’il révéla au monde la vie quotidienne des Inuits dans son célèbre livre Les Derniers Rois de Thulé (1955). Puis en témoin, au cours d’un demi-siècle, de la rapide évolution des peuples de l’Arctique, passés sans transition d’un mode de vie quasi néolithique à l’ère nucléaire, à l’Internet, et à l’avenir des minorités du tiers-monde boréal – plus de 30 expéditions du Groenland à la Sibérie, pour défendre leur culture et leur environnement, de plus en plus menacés par le réchauffement climatique et par les prospections pétrolières et gazières.

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Changement climatique en Arctique : variabilité multidécennale des derniers millénaires

▻http://www.insu.cnrs.fr/node/9544

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a publication et l’exploitation de deux bases de données paléoclimatiques par une équipe internationale comprenant des chercheurs de deux laboratoires français(1) ont permis l’étude de l’expression spatiale et temporelle de la variabilité climatique multidécennale dans la région arctique-subarctique. La haute résolution temporelle des séries utilisées a également permis aux chercheurs de s’intéresser à la question du lien entre le signal climatique enregistré par les données paléoclimatiques et celui contenu dans les données instrumentales.

La longueur des chroniques instrumentales ne permet pas l’étude de la variabilité climatique exempte de l’influence du forçage anthropique. Remettre en contexte les changements climatiques récents observés dans la région arctique-subarctique (c.-à-d. augmentation des températures, modification des précipitations et de l’humidité) nécessite alors l’utilisation de données climatiques indirectes mesurées dans les archives paléoclimatiques (archives glaciaires, cernes d’arbres, sédiments lacustres et marins, spéléothèmes) appelées proxies.

#climat #arctique

The Big Melt | by Tim Flannery | The New York Review of Books
▻https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/08/16/arctic-big-melt

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#fonte #climat #arctique

Heatwave in northern Europe, summer 2018 – World Weather Attribution

▻https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/attribution-of-the-2018-heat-in-northern-europe

SIgnalé par l’ami @freakonometrics sur Twitter, mais que je référence ici aussi

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The summer of 2018 has been remarkable in northern Europe. A very persistent high-pressure anomaly over Scandinavia caused high temperature anomalies and drought there from May to (at least) July.

Southern Europe was unusually wet, with damaging thunderstorms in France in the first half of June. In this analysis we investigate the connection between one aspect, the highest temperatures so far in Northern Europe, and climate change.

Aspects other than temperature are much less straightforward to analyse but may be considered in subsequent studies. It is important to note that, compared to other attribution analyses of European summers, attributing a heatwave early in the season with the whole of August still to come will only give a preliminary result of the 2018 Northern hemisphere heatwave season.

#climat #arctique

Arctic’s strongest sea ice breaks up for first time on record | World news | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/21/arctics-strongest-sea-ice-breaks-up-for-first-time-on-record

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The oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic has started to break up, opening waters north of Greenland that are normally frozen, even in summer.

This phenomenon – which has never been recorded before – has occurred twice this year due to warm winds and a climate-change driven heatwave in the northern hemisphere.

One meteorologist described the loss of ice as “scary”. Others said it could force scientists to revise their theories about which part of the Arctic will withstand warming the longest.

#arctique #climat #it_has_begun

Russian border guards detain more migrants seeking Arctic route

Pressure on the northern Schengen-border intensifies as several groups of migrants are detained in Russian Arctic borderlands.

Two citizens of Nigeria have been detained as they illegally tried to cross the border to Norway, Severpost reports. According to the Russian Border Guard Service, the individuals face charges of “attempted illegal crossing of the state border of the Russian Federation”. That could mean up to six years in jail.

It is not clear where exactly the two Nigerians were detained.

The arrests come shortly after the Russian border guards detained a group of people from Senegal. These people were also aiming for Norway, Severpost informs.

The number of reports about cases of illegal border crossing has increased over the last weeks. In the first days of August, two Indian nationals were caught. Prior to that, two groups of Nigerians were detained, B-port reports. At least one of the groups was halted in Pechenga, the Russian border area to Norway. There were reportedly people under adult age in the group.
Rivers, mountains, sensors and barbed wire

The border between Russia and Norway is 196 km long and runs mostly through rivers and mountain terrain. On the Russian side, there is a double barbed wire fence with sensors. Both countries have over the last years made major investments in border monitoring and surveillance.

In March this year, the Russian border guards detained two Syrians after they had made it through the doubled barbed wire fence. However, there are no known successful illegal border crossings between the countries over the last years.

Norwegian border commissioner Roger Jakobsen confirms to the Barents Observer that he has not been informed about the latest cases of attempted border crossing.

He previously underlined that he is confident that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) keeps a good eye on the border in the interest of both countries.

“I’m very satisfied with the professional job and dialogue with the Russian Commissioner”, Jakobsen said.

In autumn 2015, about 5,500 migrants were allowed to leave Russia and enter Norway at the Borisoglebsk-Storskog border checkpoints. The so-called “Arctic Migrant Route” ended in late November 2015.

http://www.rcinet.ca/eye-on-the-arctic/wp-content/uploads/sites/30/2018/08/border-finland-russia.jpg

#route_arctique #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Russie #frontières #routes_migratoires #itinéraires_migratoires #Norvège #arctique
cc @reka @isskein

Lawmakers Want to Know if US Troops Are Ready for Arctic Warfare | Military.com
▻https://www.military.com/kitup/2018/07/30/lawmakers-want-know-if-us-troops-are-ready-arctic-warfare.html

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The report should include:

– A description of current cold weather capabilities and training to support United States military operations in cold climates across the joint force;
– A description of anticipated requirements for United States military operations in cold and extreme cold weather in the Arctic, Northeast Asia, and Northern and Eastern Europe;
– A description of the current cold weather readiness of the joint force, the ability to increase cold weather training across the joint force, and any equipment, infrastructure, personnel, or resource limitations or gaps that may exist;
– An analysis of potential opportunities to expand cold weather training for the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps and the resources or infrastructure required for such expansion;
– An analysis of potential partnerships with state, local, tribal, and private entities to maximize training potential and to utilize local expertise, including traditional indigenous knowledge.

If the proposal makes it to President Donald Trump for approval, it could lead to improvements in cold-weather equipment and training U.S. troops receive.

#arctique #guerre #etats-unis

Vers une nouvelle coopération scientifique dans l’Arctique en droit international | Programme Human Sea – Rendre la mer humaine
▻https://humansea.hypotheses.org/1099
#Arctique #Coopération #Relations_internationales

The Myth of Russia’s Arctic Rule
▻https://mailchi.mp/9cdcff7c73de/taming-bureaucratic-beasts-in-china-1650757?e=752ba5eff2

https://geopoliticalfutures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/russia-maritime-choke-points-globe.jpg

It’s clearly visible from this bird’s-eye view of the Arctic region.
 
You can see here that Russia’s vast holdings of Arctic territory do not mitigate its lack of access to the world’s other oceans.
 
Russian ships cannot get to the Pacific Ocean without passing the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Strait – both of which are off the coast of Alaska and thus securely under U.S. control.
 
While the U.S. has only two icebreakers, it could shut down this shipping lane at will because it’s easily the world’s pre-eminent naval power.
 
It’s more of the same for Russia with access to the Atlantic Ocean. To get to the Atlantic from the Arctic, Russian ships have to traverse waters between Iceland and Greenland, or between Iceland and the United Kingdom.
 
Either way, it’s the same story – they are still susceptible to blockades from anti-Russian forces.
 
These uncomfortable geopolitical realities make Russia’s position in the Arctic something of a trap. To make matters worse, with the accelerating Arctic ice melt, Russia’s geopolitical strategy in Europe is melting right along with it.
 
The core of that strategy has been to establish buffer zones between Moscow and the North European Plain. This strategy is based in part on the idea that Russia has never had to worry about a potential threat to its Arctic coastline, as the Arctic Ocean has always been impossible for its enemies to traverse.
 
But if Arctic ice melts enough to allow trade in the Arctic Ocean year round – as appears inevitable – that also means enemy navies would have much more room to operate.
 
This explains why Russia has assumed a defensive posture when it comes to the Arctic.
 
It also explains why Russia has been relatively cooperative in the region diplomatically.

#arctique #Russie

Drawing Borders in the Arctic: The Race To Colonise the North | The Market Mogul

▻https://themarketmogul.com/drawing-borders-arctic-anthropocene-aided-race-define-distinctive-bo

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Once a region largely overlooked by the international community for its inaccessibility and large ice masses, the Arctic is now at the forefront of some of the world’s most critical questions. As anthropocentric climate change continues to thaw boreal ice at unprecedented rates, the increased accessibility of the Arctic region presents new windows of opportunity for the Arctic nations of the United States, Canada, Russia, Norway, and Denmark while simultaneously exacerbating the significance of unsettled borders between these Arctic states. Compelled by rapid environmental change, countries are now mobilising to carve up as much land as possible in the Northern Circumpolar Region; often leading to complex overlapping claims and the potential for disagreement and conflict. The significance of the Arctic is also boosted by # the large numbers of fisheries, natural gas, oil, and rare earth minerals such as nickel, copper, uranium, and diamonds which are becoming increasingly open to exploitation as the ice melts away. Thus, as the Anthropocene continues to alter the physical geography of the Arctic circle, previous treaties, norms, and models of governance have become incompatible with the changing landscape and require a distinct and purposeful drawing of borders to avert tensions and promote a stable and cooperative environment in the High North.

#cartographie #arctique #climat

This Refuge May Be the Most Contested Land in the U.S.
▻https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/06/arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-america-oil-risk

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/content/dam/magazine/rights-exempt/2018/06/future-of-ANWR/future-anwr-arctic-wildlife-refuge-5.ngsversion.1527566474550.adapt.1900.1.jpg

Congress voted to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. Here’s what’s at stake for America’s wild frontier.

#artcique #nature #cartographie #extractivisme #Alaska

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Le Pôle Nord en phase dégel pour la deuxième fois de l’année ...

Another extreme heat wave strikes the North Pole - The Washington Post
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/05/07/another-extreme-heat-wave-strikes-the-north-pole/?noredirect=on

In four of the past five winters, the North Pole has witnessed dramatic temperatures spikes, which previously were rare. Now, in the lead up to summer, the temperature has again shot up to unusually high levels at the tip of the planet.

Scientists say this warming could hasten the melt of Arctic sea ice, which is already near record low levels.

Study: Whales in Ice-Free Arctic Face Emerging Threat from Ships – gCaptain
▻http://gcaptain.com/study-whales-in-ice-free-arctic-face-emerging-threat-from-ships

http://gcaptain.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/sea-ice-arctic.jpg

As climate change brings a longer ice-free season and more commercial ships to the Arctic, a new study is recommending that precautionary measures be put in place to minimize the negative impacts of increased vessel traffic on marine mammals, namely from threats including noise and ship strikes.

In the Arctic, mammals such as belugas and bowhead whales rely on a quiet environment to communicate and forage. But as Arctic sea ice shrinks and shipping traffic increases, vessel disturbance could very likely impact their social behaviors, distribution and long-term survival, according to the new study led by University of Victoria marine biologist Lauren McWhinnie.