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Other Polar News and Announcements - archive from 2010
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2010 Meteorological Year Warmest Ever
13 December 2010
According to NASA, the 2010 meteorological year, which ended on 30 November, was the warmest in NASA's 130-year record. Over the oceans as well as on land, the average global temperature for the 12-month period that began last December was 14.65˚C. That's 0.65˚C warmer than the average global temperature between 1951 and 1980, the period used as a basis for comparison. The 2010 meteorological year was slightly warmer than the previous warmest year, the 2005 calendar year, when the average temperature was 14.53˚C.
In 2010, temperatures measured over land alone were also the warmest ever, with instruments showing a December-November average of 14.85˚C. Combining this warming with above-average ocean temperatures led to the global average of 14.65˚C.
November brought frigid temperatures to certain areas of Europe. But the data, compiled by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, show that, globally, last month was the warmest November ever recorded, nearly 0.96˚C warmer than the 1951 to 1980 average for the month.
According to NASA climatologist and Goddard director James Hansen, the main driver for the increased warmth was the Arctic, where temperatures in Hudson Bay were "10˚C above normal" for November. That month, Hansen says, "sea ice was absent while normally that [body of water] is covered by sea ice." Water devoid of ice absorbs much more solar radiation than water covered with ice, which reflects much of the radiation back toward space.
The record temperatures occurred despite a moderate occurrence of La Niña, a phenomenon over the Pacific Ocean that tends to lead to cooler temperatures at the surface, affecting the global mean.
Free access to journal "Polar Research"
13 December 2010
Polar Research, the international peer-reviewed journal of the Norwegian Polar Institute, will become an open-access journal starting January 1st 2011. Now readers around the world will have free access to the latest scientific articles on climate, biodiversity, polar history and other diverse topics that are investigated in the polar regions.
Aiming to promote the exchange of scientific knowledge about the Arctic and Antarctic across disciplinary boundaries, Polar Research has served an international community of researchers since 1982. As part of the journal's transition, Polar Research is moving to the specialized open-access publisher, Co-Action Publishing. Polar Research will continue to be edited by Helle V. Goldman of the Norwegian Polar Institute and an international board of Subject Editors, with support from an international Editorial Advisory Panel.
Publishing in Polar Research will not entail author fees, and there will be no charges for colour illustrations or multi-media supplemental material. The journal will be published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, allowing authors to distribute and post the final version of their work for any non-commercial purpose, under the condition that the original source is credited. As such, publishing in Polar Research will make it convenient for contributors and their institutions to comply with mandates on open access to publicly funded research. At the same time, authors will benefit from the same rigorous standards of peer review and the same high quality of editorial service for which the journal is known.
Polar Research will be available in an electronic edition only. This will make the journal much 'greener' and is also in keeping with current reading patterns among scientists, who skim article titles and abstracts on the Internet to determine what they need to read. Polar Research will continue to publish 'special issues', now in the form of thematic clusters. The journal's archive will be available through the new website as well as through the former publisher's platform.
The new URL for the journal as of January 1st 2011 is www.polarresearch.net.
Circumpolar Remote Sensing Workshop - Online!
4 October 2010
The UK Polar Network recently organized a workshop for early career scientists focused on polar remote sensing, and hosted at Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute. Topics ranged from open access data sources to innovative uses of remote sensing in glaciology and penguin biology. We know that a lot of people weren't able to make it - so, with international cooperation in mind, materials from the workshop (handouts, slides, and videos) have been placed online on the UKPN website. Video hosting is via SCAR's YouTube channel.
The UK Polar Network is the UK branch of SCAR parter APECS (the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists). The workshop was supported by the NERC EO Technology Cluster and Environmental Research & Assessment.
Ancient giant penguin unearthed in Peru
4 October 2010
The fossil of a giant penguin that lived 36 million years ago has been discovered in Peru. Scientists say the find shows that key features of the plumage were present quite early on in penguin evolution. The team writes in Science that the penguin's feathers were brown and grey, distinct from the black "tuxedo" look of modern penguins. It was nearly twice the size of an Emperor Penguin, the largest living species. The bird, named Inkayacu paracasensis, lived during the late Eocene period.
Open Review: "State of the Arctic Coast 2010 - Scientific Review and Outlook"
23 September 2010
The editorial team invites the community to participate in the open review of the report "State of the Arctic Coast 2010 - Scientific Review and Outlook". The draft report is now available for download and open review but should not be cited or quoted at this time.
The report is a collaborative effort of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), the Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ) Project and the International Permafrost Association (IPA). The document was prepared by an international writing team, including 15 Lead Authors and 27 Contributing Authors. It was released during the IPY Oslo Conference, 8-12 June 2010, and is now available for public comments with the objective to publish the final version early 2011. The Editorial Team and Lead Authors welcome comments on the draft report from the Arctic science and stakeholder communities, including northern residents.
The content of the report is intended to reflect results in the published literature, with preference to peer-reviewed results and qualified recognition of other insights from the grey literature, ongoing research programs and traditional knowledge. The report is not intended to promote policy goals or approaches; instead it attempts to provide an objective assessment of the current state of Arctic coasts and to provide background for the development of policy, with a discussion of potential strategies to enhance circum-polar collaboration for an integrated approach to research on Arctic coastal systems.
To download the report and the review instructions, please visit the Arctic Coast website.
The Antarctic Centennial Year (ACY) 2011-2012 in Hobart, Tasmania
9 September 2010
Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania, will celebrate a remarkable 'Antarctic Centennial Year' in 2011-2012. Historically, the port was the departure point for some noteworthy Antarctic expeditions: Australian geologist Douglas Mawson led an expedition in 1911 which very nearly cost him his life, and in 1912, Norwegian Roald Amundsen walked in to Hobart's General Post Office to send a telegram to the King of Norway, announcing that he had won the 'Race to the Pole', defeating the ill-fated Robert Falcon Scott to become the first human being to reach 90° South. Both centenaries will be celebrated during the ACY, and a number of other cultural events are planned. Hobart will host the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) conference in May 2011 and the prestigious 35th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in June 2012.
More information is available in the ACY brief.
Canadian High Arctic Research Station coming to Cambridge Bay
25 August 2010
The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station will be located in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.
"Through our Northern Strategy our Government is committed to realizing the full potential of Canada's North" said Prime Minister Harper. "By building this leading-edge research station, we are advancing Canada's knowledge of the Arctic's resources and climate while at the same time ensuring that Northern communities are prosperous, vibrant and secure."
The Canadian High Arctic Research Station will be a year-round, multidisciplinary facility exploring the cutting-edge of Arctic science and technology issues. The research at the station will help protect and understand the northern environment, contributing to the overall quality of life for Northerners and all Canadians.
The station is an integral part of Canada's four part Northern Strategy: to assert and defend Canada's sovereignty, to protect the unique and fragile arctic ecosystem, to develop a strong Northern economy and to encourage good governance and greater local control and opportunity.
See background information on the research station and feasibility study.
What Lives in the Sea?
As part of a Census effort, participating nations and regions generated new syntheses of marine biodiversity knowledge in their adjacent waters. Summaries of these findings are collected in The Public Library of Science's (PLoS) latest special collection, Marine Biodiversity and Biogeography — Regional Comparisons of Global Issues, released on Monday, August 2nd. The papers describe the physical, geological, chemical, and biological characteristics of each region, provide a brief history of research and species discovery, and give insight into the role of Census activities in promoting and synthesizing this information. These articles bring together teams of regional experts to identify strengths and gaps in taxonomic capacity and ecological knowledge, potential focal areas for biodiversity research, and threats to marine biodiversity that span fishing disturbance, habitat destruction, invasive species, pollutants, and climate change. They provide species inventories and document patterns of endemism within different taxa, and they identify biogeographic regions and taxonomic groups with the greatest potential to yield new discovery. Individually these articles provide insights that can reveal regional needs and promising directions for future research; collectively they establish a baseline for further global assessments and identify mechanisms for future international collaboration. The collection includes two overview articles: an introduction (O'Dor et al.) and a global synthesis (Costello et al.) of the national and regional articles that follow.
New Polar Journal Launched
The Polar Journal, a new journal focussing on polar social sciences and humanities, has been launched by Taylor and Francis. The first number of The Polar Journal will be published in June 2011. Initially it will be published twice a year. The Editors expect the journal to be of interest across the range of international scientific, science-policy, operational, diplomatic, legal and academic communities concerned with the Antarctic and Arctic.
Major International Global-Change Science Conference 2012 announced
The International Council for Science's (ICSU) global change programmes have announced that the UK will host a major global-change open science conference in 2012, 'Planet Under Pressure: new knowledge, new solutions'. The conference aims to provide scientific input into the Earth Summit (Rio +20) also in 2012. The event, provisionally booked for 7-10 May 2012, will take place prior to the next UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, also scheduled for that year. Presenting the latest research findings, the London conference is anticipated to provide a solid scientific foundation for the summit.
Further details are available on the IGBP website.
Universality of Science in the Polar Regions
SCAR's parent body, the International Council for Science (ICSU) has released a statement on the Universality of Science in the Polar Regions. Building on the international collaborative spirit witnessed during the International Polar Year, and for the global population to benefit from the improved understanding of changes and influence of the polar regions that this spirit enables, ICSU calls on all parties conducting or influencing polar research to support the principle of Universality of Science.
View the full ICSU statement.
Call for Participation of Young Researchers in NRF Open Assembly
The Northern Research Forum (NRF), an Institute of the University of the Arctic (UArctic), is a venue for open dialogue to address issues and opportunities which face people living in the regions of the Circumpolar North. In order to do so, the NRF hosts a biennial Open Assembly where stakeholders, including researchers, educators, politicians, business leaders, civil servants, community leaders, NGO representatives, and resource users and managers come together and address the issues that are in focus.
The 6th NRF Open Assembly will be held in Oslo and Kirkenes, Norway on the 24th – 27th of October this year. The NRF is currently searching for Young Researchers to participate at the Assembly, where the NRF gives out travel grants for participation. Further information is available from the Assembly website.
Arctic Sea Ice stays low
The figure below is from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center:
It shows that despite cool temperatures over most of the Arctic Ocean in January, Arctic sea ice extent continued to track below normal. By the end of January, ice extent dropped below the extent observed in January 2007. Ice extent was unusually low in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic, the one major area of the Arctic where temperatures remained warmer than normal. Arctic sea ice extent averaged for January 2010 was 13.78 million square kilometers (5.32 million square miles). This was 1.08 million square kilometers (417,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average for January, but 180,000 square kilometers (69,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which occurred in January 2006.
Ice extent remained below normal over much of the Atlantic sector of the Arctic, including the Barents Sea, part of the East Greenland Sea, and in Davis Strait. The only region with above-average ice extent was on the Pacific side of the Bering Sea. While Arctic sea ice extent has declined in all seasons, the downward trends in winter ice extent are much smaller than in summer. Polar darkness and low temperatures mean that the ice generally refreezes to about the same boundaries each winter. Ice extent averaged for January 2010 was the fourth lowest for the month since the beginning of satellite records. The linear rate of decline for January is now 3.2% per decade.
WCRP Open Science Conference Announced
The World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) has announced that its Open Science Conference, entitled Climate Research in Service to Society, will take place in Denver, Colorado, USA from 24-28 October 2011. More information is available in the First Announcement, or by visiting the Conference website.
Global temperatures stay warm despite cold north temperate winter
The annual compilation of temperatures by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Science shows that 2009 was the second warmest year on record despite the cold temperatures in December across North America, western Europe and Siberia. See Jim Hansen's post on the Columbia University website.
Arctic Oscillation Explains Cold European and North American Winter of 2009-10
The US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) carries an elegant explanation of why the European and North American winter has been so severe through December 2009 into January 2010 (see their Arctic Sea Ice News). The current phase of the Arctic Oscillation has very low pressures over the Arctic, making it unusually warm there (up to 7°C warmer than usual over Baffin Bay). In this negative phase of the oscillation, higher pressures and colder temperatures are typically found over the mid latitudes, as is the case now. Given the Arctic warming, the Arctic sea ice for the period remains well below the average for the 1979-2000 period and not a lot different from 2007. The December figures of ice extent are right on the line of a 3.3% decline in area per year for December since 1978. For those who are Euro-centric or North America-centric, it is worth bearing in mind that while we freeze, much of the rest of the world continues to show warming. What we are experiencing is weather - not climate.
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