A First Effect of Global Warming: More Grizzly-Polar Bear Hybrids
	Global warming is a reality, and the Arctic is affected by it the hardest. Our grandchildren may not get to see polar bears, at least not in the wild. In the summer of 2007, the Arctic ice surface was about 30% under the long-term average level, a record of all times. Some studies forecast ice-free Arctic summers by 2040; some say that we could even get to see it happening this year. Since 1978, the trend has been only downward and the ... [read more >>]
	09 May 2008, 14:06GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

We Could See an Ice-Free North Pole This Year
	Our grandchildren won't get to see polar bears, at least not in the wild. In the summer of 2007, the Arctic ice surface was about 30% under the long-term average level, a record of all times. Some studies forecast ice-free Arctic summers by 2040; some say that we could even get to see it happening this year. "The set-up for this summer is disturbing," Mark Serreze of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) told ... [read more >>]
	30 April 2008, 05:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Winter Arctic Ice Has Increased by 3.9% This Season
	The summer of 2007 registered the record of ice melting in the Arctic. Now, satellite data obtained by NASA reveals that the Arctic ice has recovered weakly, despite a very cold winter, and this summer melting could be another hit. In some Arctic areas, the colder-than-average winter of 2007-2008 has caused an increase in the area of new sea ice, but this can do little for stopping the decline of the perennial sea ice, an indicator of t ... [read more >>]
	19 March 2008, 05:27GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

In the Summer of 2008, We Are Going to See Another Record of Arctic Ice Melting
	By the time of our grandchildren, polar bears may be gone, like the dinosaurs. In the summer of 2007, the Arctic ice surface was about 30% under the long-term average, a record of all times. Some studies forecast ice-free Arctic summers by 2040. Ignatius Rigor, a University of Washington climatologist, speaking at the Alaska Forum on the Environment, said that, in the summer of 2008, the Arctic sea ice could shrink even more ... [read more >>]
	15 February 2008, 05:33GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

New Giant Fossil Sea Monster Found in the Arctic: 13 m (40 ft) Long!
	Ancient seas were dominated by huge monstrous reptiles, like plesiosaurs, marine reptile with flipper like members, similar to those found in modern marine turtles, but with very long necks, quite similar to the monster from the stories about the seasnake. They disappeared because of the same event that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. New remains of a bus-sized prehistoric huge plesiosaur found on the remote Arctic Svalbard isla ... [read more >>]
	06 December 2007, 05:04GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Manhattan-sized Arctic Ice Island Split off in Two!
	The decline of the severe ice shelf coming with the global warming, a process that has been observed in the last years in Antarctica and Greenland, is more and more prominent in the North Pole area. In Aug. 13, 2005, the giant Ayles Ice Shelf, the size of Manhattan (16 x 5 km; 10 mi x 3 mi), has broken out free from the Ellesmere Island's ice shelf, just 800 km (500 mi) south of the North Pole, in the Canadian Arctic. The wanderin ... [read more >>]
	05 October 2007, 04:34GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Arctic is Dried Up by Global Warming
	You may think that Arctic is a continuous marsh, having thousands of small ponds. "If you fly over, you see them everywhere," said John Smol of Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. But a new research led by Smol has revealed that the Arctic ponds are now fast disappearing due to global warming. These ponds lie over the frozen soil (permafrost) or bedrock, freeze in the winter and then melt for just a few months ea ... [read more >>]
	03 July 2007, 05:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Nunavut, the Frozen Country of the Eskimos
	On the first of April 1999 the most recent territory of Canada, Nunavut, came to existence. Canada's map has changed for the first time after Newfoundland joined the confederation. Nunavut compasses one fifth of Canada’s territory on the mainland, and is larger than any of Canada’s provinces. Nunavut's climate is arctic, with very cold winters and short summers that are too cool to permit the growth of trees. The temperatu ... [read more >>]
	28 June 2007, 17:51GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

How Did the Arctic Ocean Emerge?
	It has been found that the frozen ocean of the North (for how long could it be still named so?) has its origins in ... a lake. 20 million years ago, what is now the Arctic Ocean was just a very large lake, whose fresh water flew southwards through a narrow strait into the Atlantic. But 18.2 million years ago, the tectonic plates started to move and the strait started to get larger. Slowly, during probably 750,000 years, salt water from ... [read more >>]
	22 June 2007, 09:19GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Arctic Plants Keep Pace With Global Warming-Induced Ice Melting
	Svalbard is like a bridge between Norway and the North Pole: an icy Norwegian archipelago famous for glaciers, freezing winds, polar bears, harboring the northernmost human settlements in the world. 10,000 years ago Svalbard was completely covered by ice and now it still covers 60 % of its surface. The rest of the landscape is covered by hardy Arctic plants like mountain avens and white arctic bell heather. An European team has m ... [read more >>]
	15 June 2007, 06:08GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Icebergs Tips
	11 % of the land surface is covered by ice (23 million square km). 14.1 million are in Antarctica, 21,000 square km in mountain glaciers in southern temperate zone, 100 square kilometers in tropical mountain glaciers, 100,111 square km in mountain glaciers in northern temperate zone and 2.2 million square km in the Arctic, (1.65 in Greenland alone). 97 % of the current ice surface and 99.75 % of its volume are located in Antarctica a ... [read more >>]
	19 April 2007, 11:30GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Ice Melting Has Triggered the War for Arctic Riches
	The melting of the polar ice caps due to global warming has accelerated something perhaps unexpected: an international race for oil, fish, diamonds and shipping routes. The frozen north may look barren and uninhabited now, but the latest reports reveal that the northern ice cap is warming faster than the rest of the planet and ice is shrinking quickly. This is a catastrophe for the Arctic ecosystem, including its polar bears and ot ... [read more >>]
	26 March 2007, 07:21GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

The Most Uninhabited Country in the World
	On the first of April 1999 the most recent territory of Canada, Nunavut, came to existence. Canada’s map had changed for the first time after Newfoundland joined the confederation. Nunavut compasses one fifth of Canada’s territory on the mainland, and is larger than any of Canada’s provinces. Here lives the youngest population of Canada, but it is also the least populated territory. [img=2]29,500 persons, of which 56 ... [read more >>]
	23 March 2007, 11:27GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia

Blue Eyes for the Winter, Light-Brown for the Summer
	Santa Claus will never come late. Because scientists discovered Rudolph can take care of his eyes very well even without sunglasses. Scientists have found that reindeers possess an unusual physiologic mechanism to deal with polar light extremes: they change their eye color and structure for summer and winter, which in the Arctic translates to permanent summer sunlight and 24-hour darkness in winter. The British-Norweg ... [read more >>]
	15 March 2007, 11:20GMT | (c) 2008 Softpedia