Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat

The Arctic Ocean has given up tens of thousands more square miles (square kilometers) of ice on Sunday in a relentless summer of melt, with scientists watching through satellite eyes for a possible record low polar ice cap.

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Report says Arctic temperatures at record highs

Autumn temperatures in the Arctic are at record levels, the Arctic Ocean is getting warmer and less salty as sea ice melts, and reindeer herds appear to be declining, researchers reported Thursday.

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Arctic quake sends waves through Nevada

Scientists say what appeared to be an earthquake in northeastern Nevada was actually a seismograph picking up waves from an earlier quake in the Arctic Ocean.

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Palin's role in Arctic claims questioned

Russian attempts to claim part of the Arctic Ocean seabed have given Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin unique foreign policy experience, the McCain-Palin campaign says, but there is no evidence she has ever been involved with or spoken publicly about them.

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Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record

More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming "tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30 years.

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Arctic sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record

Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest minimum since satellite observations began, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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Groups Challenge Alaska Petro Lease Sale

Groups of conservationists and Alaska Natives sued the federal government Thursday to stop a petroleum lease sale of a large area of the sea off Alaska.

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Russia President Putin Honors Scientists

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday granted "hero" awards to scientists backing Russia's claim to a mountain range under the Arctic Ocean that is believed to contain huge oil and gas reserves.

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Small Oil Co. Makes Big Arctic Gamble

Drilling in a field capable of yielding as much as 90 million barrels of oil seemed just right for Pioneer Natural Resources Co. — except for one thing. The field sits about three miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean.

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Russian Subs Seek Glory at North Pole

Two small Russian submarines completed a risky voyage deep below the North Pole Thursday, planting their country's flag in a titanium capsule on the Arctic Ocean floor to symbolically claim what could be vast energy reserves beneath the seabed.

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Russia's Arctic Mission Nears North Pole

An ambitious expedition to bolster Russia's claims to much of the oil and gas wealth of the Arctic Ocean headed to the North Pole on Wednesday, plowing its way through unbroken Arctic ice behind a sturdy Russian icebreaker.

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Sir Wally Herbert, Polar Explorer, Dies

Sir Wally Herbert, the first man to cross the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean on foot, has died at the age of 72, a friend of the polar explorer said Wednesday.

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Frostbite Ends Bancroft-Arnesen Trek

A North Pole expedition meant to bring attention to global warming was called off after one of the explorers got frostbite. The explorers, Ann Bancroft and Liv Arnesen, on Saturday called off what was intended to be a 530-mile trek across the Arctic Ocean after Arnesen suffered frostbite in three of her toes, and extreme cold temperatures drained the batteries in some of their electronic equipment.

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Waters around the North Pole are absorbing carbon dioxide at such a rate that they will soon start dissolving the shells of living sea creatures.

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ON BOARD COAST GUARD FLIGHT ABOVE BEAUFORT SEA (Reuters) - Out in the Arctic Ocean, about 200 miles (322 km ) north of the nearest human settlement, the future of the world's climate is written in the patterns of ice patches on the water's surface.

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Energy Policy: Oil prices have risen to a six-month high on the prospect of economic recovery. Russia plans floating reactors to power Arctic drilling. We plan to do nothing to increase supply. ...

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Scientists from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the United States Geological Survey have provided Dot Earth with a closeup view of the remarkable rate of erosion along parts of Alaska's thawing Arctic Ocean coast.

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Earlier this month, a polar bear was spending its time leisurely near Point Barrow, swimming along the shore and frolicking on the AstroTurf field where the high school football team plays. After a few days, however, the bear's half-skinned carcass was found lying on the sand.

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North Pole sea ice dwindling; Antarctic sea ice growing. What's up?

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The Arctic seabed is as explosive geologically as it is politically judging by the "fountains" of gas and molten lava that have been blasting out of underwater volcanoes near the North Pole.

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Diplomats from the five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean adopted a declaration on Wednesday aimed at defusing tensions over the likelihood that global warming will open northern waters to shipping, energy extraction and other activities.

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[Excerpt:] - A year after Russia's controversial flag-planting dive to the North Pole seabed to assert ownership of a sprawling underwater mountain chain, Canada is launching a less brazen but potentially more effective counterclaim for control over parts of the disputed Arctic r …

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Saudi Arabia's Ghawar, the biggest conventional oil field in the world, has been estimated to contain about 170 billion barrels of oil.

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Last August, as a team at the North Pole prepared to plunge more than two miles to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, some of the dozens of specialists who staged the dive engaged in a time-honored ritual: drawing on foam cups, decorating more than 100 of them.

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From the tropics to the ice fields, doom is big business. Quark Expeditions, a leader in arctic travel, doubled capacity for its 2008 season of trips to the northern and southernmost reaches of the planet.

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In an open letter to Santa last week and a speech to children at Seattle's Annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony at Westlake Center, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels last week offered a Grinch-like tone, grumbling about climate change threatening Santa, telling kids "I hope the r …

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For scientists, global warming is a disaster movie, its opening scenes set at the poles of Earth. The epic already has started. And it's not fiction.

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As six months of winter darkness descend over the top of the world, temperatures are falling and the Arctic Ocean is again freezing. But the damage has been done. The National Snow and Ice Data Center reports that just 1.65 million sq. mi.

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A Manhattan-size Arctic ice shelf that broke away from Canada's Ellesmere Island in August 2005 has broken in half, satellite pictures reveal. Aided by record low Arctic sea ice levels this past summer, the Ayles Ice Island had drifted unusually far south.

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"This was exceptional for a place where the normal average temperatures are about 5C. This year we frequently recorded daytime temperatures of between 10C and 15C and on some days it went as high as 22C," said Scott Lamoureux, a professor of geography at Queen's.

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This is special.........................

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The giant Ayles Ice Island drifting off Canada's northern shores has broken in two - far earlier than expected. In a season of record summer melting in the region, the two chunks have moved rapidly through the water - one of them covering 98km (61 miles) in a week.

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Melting Arctic sea ice has shrunk to a 29-year low, significantly below the minimum set in 2005, according to preliminary figures from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, part of the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Inuit leaders are protesting plans that would change shipping rules and allow the navy to dump garbage and raw sewage into Arctic waters. They have written to National Defence Minister Peter Mackay to seek clarification on the issue.

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A Russian expedition has proved that a ridge of mountains below the Arctic Ocean is part of Russia's continental shelf, government officials have said. The August expedition planted the Russian flag on the seabed below the North Pole and gathered soil samples.

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Large areas of the Arctic sea-ice are only one metre thick this year, equating to an approximate 50 percent thinning as compared to the year 2001.

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An island of ice the size of Manhattan has drifted into a remote channel and is now jammed by pack ice. The Ayles Ice Island changed the Arctic map by breaking free from the Canadian coast two years ago.

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