An ongoing project in northern Alaska is using pulses of laser light to monitor anthropogenic activity, ice quakes, and marine wildlife.
Arctic
Posted inNews
A Massive Methane Reservoir Is Lurking Beneath the Sea
Scientists have found a methane reservoir below the permafrost seabed of the Laptev Sea—a reservoir that could suddenly release large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas.
Posted inNews
Mapping the People, Places, and Problems of Permafrost Thaw
By combining demography data with permafrost maps, researchers provide a first count of the population on permafrost and predict its imminent decline.
Posted inNews
A Space Hurricane Spotted Above the Polar Cap
Researchers have identified a high-latitude phenomenon that looks remarkably like a tropospheric hurricane, with spinning arms of plasma and a shower of electrons.
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Arctic Lightning Up 300% in One 11-Year Study
The increase may be due to climate change, researchers suggest, but the trend hasn’t been observed in other lightning data sets.
Posted inFeatures
Glimpsing the Ins and Outs of the Arctic Atmospheric Cauldron
Specially equipped aircraft will follow air masses into and out of the Arctic, observing their transformations and improving our knowledge of the Arctic climate and its global influence.
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Arctic Report Card Founder Discusses the Fate of the Pole
Researcher Jackie Richter-Menge has reported on the status of the melting Arctic for the past 15 years. Her observations tell a story of “mind-blowing change.”
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Reindeer Have to Eat Up to Survive the Winter
Arctic biologists use 25 years of data to find that warmer autumns might be enough to increase the odds of reindeer’s winter survival on Svalbard.
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The Influence of Tidal Forces Extends to the Arctic’s Deep Sea
The Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides, but its influence extends hundreds of meters below the sea surface too, influencing sensitive methane seeps in the seabed.
Posted inNews
Overturning in the Pacific May Have Enabled a “Standstill” in Beringia
During the last glacial period, a vanished ocean current may have made the land bridge between Asia and the Americas into a place where humans could wait out the ice.