• Sea-level to rise by one-metre this century: scientists

    INT60International/Environment/ScienceSea-level to rise by one-metre this century: scientistsBerlin, Oct 9 DPA Global warming calculations have been too optimistic, and the sea level round the globe is likely to rise a full metre this century, two senior German scientists warned Wednesday. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, who heads the Potsdam Institute for Research on Global Warming Effects and Jochem Marotzke, a leading meteorologist, said UN-backed data on climate change, predicting a rise of 18 to 59 centimetres, was out of date. "We now have to expect that the sea level will rise by a metre this century," said Schellnhuber in Berlin. He said international plans to limit the rise in average global temperatures to just 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, mainly by limiting growth in carbon dioxide emissions, were only achievable with enormous effort. Schnellnhuber, who is official adviser to German Chancellor Angela Merkel on climate-change issues, said the new findings employed data unavailable to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC for its most recent global warming report. The two experts said the IPCC report had been based on data up to 2005 only, but since then ice loss in the Arctic had doubled or tripled. Schnellhuber charged that 20 percent of the loss of the ice sheet on Greenland could be directly linked to the added carbon dioxide emissions from new Chinese coal-fired power stations. --DPAsy/dkg244 Words09101631
    2008-10-09 07:03:07

  • Russia to set new border line in Arctic

    INT10International/Diplomacy/DefenceRussia to set new border line in ArcticBy Maxim KransMoscow, Sep 24 RIA Novosti Recent discussions about national geopolitical concerns and spheres of interest have predictably reached the issue of Russia's northern border. President Dmitry Medvedev set the task of formalizing Russia's right to a considerable part of the Arctic shelf at the Sep 17 meeting of the country's Security Council. This will "turn the Arctic into Russia's resource base of the 21st century", he said at the meeting held to discuss protection of Russia's national interests in the Arctic.According to experts, that part of the Arctic Ocean, which Russia has always considered within its national territory, contains about 25 percent of the world's shelf hydrocarbon resources. Huge offshore deposits of natural gas have been discovered in the Barents and Kara seas.Russia reels in one-sixth of its fishing output there, and the region also has the Northern Sea Route, the shortest way from Europe to America and Asia, including for the transportation of oil and gas from Arctic deposits.That region and the adjacent northern territories have enough resources to maintain humankind for decades.It is therefore not surprising that many countries have laid claim to its wealth.Russia has always considered the vast triangle of 1.2 million sq km between the North Pole at its top and Russia's shoreline between the Kola Peninsula and Chukotka at its bottom as its own.But the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which was adopted in December 1982 and came into force in November 1996, ruled that the five Arctic Circle countries - the US, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Russia - will each have a 322-km economic zone in the Arctic Ocean.To regain its loss, Russia needs to prove that its continental shelf, or more precisely the Lomonosov Ridge, is the direct continuation of the Siberian continental crust. Several Russian expeditions have been sent there to prove the point in the last two years.A Russian flag was planted on the seabed during an expedition to the North Pole in August 2007 at the initiative of Artur Chilingarov, a Russian lawmaker who headed the symbolic dive beneath the North Pole last August.The mission did not provide any additional scientific arguments in favour of Russia's claim, but it has increased interest in the Arctic shelf's resources and sparked off numerous international discussions.These expeditions also encouraged the interest of other claimants in the Arctic pie.Canada has long laid claim to the North Pole and the resource-rich Lomonosov Ridge that lies beneath. Denmark says the disputed ridge - a 1,500-km undersea mountain range that runs past the pole between Siberia and North America - is a geological extension of the northern coast of Greenland.The United States, Norway and other countries have also joined the fray. Everyone wants a piece of the Arctic pie, the larger the better.Protecting its right to the ridge is a matter of principle for Russia, for the country which gets the bulk of the Arctic shelf hydrocarbon resources will play the dominant role in the world for the next several decades.However, the political aspect of developing undersea territories is no less important than the economic reasons, as deputy prime minister Sergei Ivanov said at a meeting of Russia's Naval Board last April."Legalization of Russia's right to its continental shelf will increase the national territory," he said.The political and defence aspects of the problem were also discussed at the meeting of Russia's Security Council held Sep 12 at Russia's northernmost border station on Franz-Josef Land.The meeting later continued in Moscow, where President Medvedev said: "This region is of strategic importance for the country. We must reliably ensure Russia's national interests in the Arctic for a long term."To do this, the country should focus on the development of its Arctic territories and the economic revival of the Extreme North, which has been regarded as a burden on the budget since the 1980s.The government only sent there what meagre funds had been left after all other regions and sectors received their due. As a result, its infrastructure has become dilapidated, depreciation of equipment has reached a critical point, and standards of living are inadmissibly low - with the exception of a few "oases" prospering on hydrocarbon revenues.Left without the financial assistance of the state, Russia's fleet, including icebreakers, has degenerated so much that foreign shipping companies may soon take over control of the Northern Sea Route. Many countries have already expressed their intention to do so.The northern territories and the Northern Sea route are crucial for Russia's expansion in the Arctic. The country must revive them, and do it soon.During the Security Council meeting, President Medvedev instructed the government to draft the fundamentals of Russian state policy in the Arctic.Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said the policy would also include delineating the country's new northern border.Marking borders on a map is easily done, but getting international recognition for them is quite another matter.Russia may have a chance to do so only after it files a new claim to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.--RIA Novostidkg/jg927 Words24090722
    2008-09-24 00:00:00

  • Greenland seeks whaling breakaway

    Greenland is trying to withdraw its whale hunt from International Whaling Commission jurisdiction....
    2008-09-12 19:04:07

  • A history lesson from Greenland’s melting ice

    Having a tough time figuring out how quickly Greenland’s ice cap could melt Look to the past for clues. That’s what an international team of scientists led by Ander...
    2008-09-05 00:25:12

  • At top of Greenland, new worrisome cracks in ice AP

    AP - In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major...
    2008-08-24 19:02:14

  • Whitby Town of voyagers

    &ltp>&ltfont size="2">&ltstrong&gtChristine Pemberton&ltp&gtThere’s something about the holiday places you went to regula...
    2008-08-23 18:42:33

  • Global warming sign Huge Petermann glacier in Arctic is cracking

    A scientist predicts the disintegration of a major part of the Northern Hemisphere's biggest floating glacier within a year. But is it normal stress or a sign of climate change ...
    2008-08-23 09:43:58

  • Far North Greenland Glacier Cracking Up

    In northern Greenland, a part of the Arctic that had seemed immune from global warming, new satellite images show a growing giant crack and an 11-square-mile chunk of ice hemorrhaging off a major glac...
    2008-08-22 16:26:36

  • Global warming sign Major Arctic glacier is cracking

    A scientist predicts the disintegration of a major part of the Northern Hemisphere's biggest floating glacier within a year. But is it normal stress or a sign of climate change ...
    2008-08-22 15:32:35

  • PHOTOS: Huge Greenland Glacier Disintegrating

    &lttable cellspacing=&quot0" cellpadding=&quot1">&lttr>&lttd valign=&quottop">&lta href=&quothttp://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080...
    2008-08-22 14:35:24
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