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Climate Crisis

Instead of expanding like normally this time of the year, sea ice vanished last month in huge areas north of Svalbard and in the northern Barents Sea. 2015 could be all-time minimum for late winter, likely to be followed by record little ice the coming summer.

New research shows that species from the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans soon will start to mix. This could have serious consequences for both fisheries and local ecosystems.

Samantha Smith

TROMSØ: Norway’s decision to offer more Barents Sea drillings would be incommensurate with efforts to limit global warming to 2ºC, says Samantha Smith of the WWF.

Remember the big sinkhole on Yamal Peninsula discovered last summer? Scientists have now discovered leaking methane gas from the shelf west of Yamal. That is where Gazprom will drill.

Norwegian Polar Institute sails the research vessel “Lance” into the Arctic ice-cap north of Svalbard where she will freeze in and passively drift with the ice for the next six months.

Global warming could trigger a food crisis in the High North with hunters’ ability to live of the land threatened due to melting ice and migrating species.

Arctic seabirds are acting as proverbial ‘canaries in the coal mines’ for pollution hotspots in the High North.

Polartorsk

KIRKENES: Warmer temperatures at the bottom of the Barents Sea are of big concern to ecologists in the High North. Certain marine species are disappearing from the ecosystem while others are increasing in number. The impact on Russia’s fisheries sector is crucial.

Polar scientists have since 2010 only seen open waters in the important migration route for polar bears over the Kara Strait between Novaya Zemlya and Vaygach. Too long to swim, warns Russian scientist.

A new study reveals an unexpected consequence of the Arctic ice loss: regions are now developing a second bloom of phytoplankton in the fall in addition to the usual springtime bloom.

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