Kathy Gorski's List: Polar Science News

"Science: Methane Gas Release from Arctic Permafrost is Far Larger Than Expected

Ancient permafrost submerged in the Arctic Ocean is releasing methane gas into the atmosphere at rates comparable to previous estimates for all the world’s oceans combined, researchers say. This underwater permafrost represents a large but previously overlooked source of methane, and experts say that similar but more widespread emissions of the gas could have dramatic effects on global warming in the future."

"Methane Releases From Arctic Shelf May Be Much Larger and Faster Than Anticipated"

"The State of the Arctic Conference: "At the Forefront of Global Change"... The main goal of the conference is to review our understanding of the arctic system in a time of rapid environmental change. Sessions will be streaming and open to all.

It will provide an open international forum for discussion of future research directions aimed toward a better understanding of the arctic system and its trajectory. Topics will range from basic understanding of the Arctic and system-wide change to developing response strategies to adapt and mitigate change."

"This year there will be two teams of researchers heading out on two different traverses to conduct snow surveys. The first team, SnowSTAR-2010-West consists of Matthew Sturm, Jon Holmgren, John Burch, and Henry Huntington. They have recently embarked on a traverse that will take them from Fairbanks to Barrow then over to Prudhoe Bay, over the course of four weeks."

"By showing that Arctic climate change is no longer just a problem for the polar bear, a new study may finally dispel the view that what happens in the Arctic, stays in the Arctic."

The Arctic Council Indigenous Peoples’ Secretariat is a support Secretariat for the International Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations that have Permanent Participant status in the Arctic Council .
IPS assists with creating opportunities for the Indigenous Peoples’ Organizations to present their causes, and helps provide them with necessary information and materials.

"Q&A: carbon capture and storage

How does it work, which countries are leading technological developments, and what is the future for CCS?"

Its construction now complete, the science instrument that is the heart of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) spacecraft -- NASA's first mission dedicated to studying atmospheric carbon dioxide -- has left its nest at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and has arrived at its integration and test site in Gilbert, Ariz.

"A bay in northern Antarctica, nearest to New Zealand, the Ross Sea is home to a quarter of the world's emperor penguins, a third of all adelie penguins, all manner of seals, whales, fish and sea birds.

It is, scientists like Ainley and Wilson say, the last remaining almost untouched paradise. "