Showing posts with label Arctic belt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arctic belt. Show all posts

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Arctic Thaw

Soot or carbon black is the natural and industrial ash like substance. It has now been proved that soot emissions from U.S. coal burning may have significantly contributed and been a primary culprit for the fast melt-down of the arctic ice sheet. According to new research, an eight-fold increase in soot in the Arctic snow had taken place during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.Soot reduces the reflectivity of snow and ice allowing the surface to absorb more energy from the sun.

When the United States switched to oil and gas and instituted air pollution controls, the amount of soot falling in the Arctic dropped substantially. However, soot is still a factor in Arctic warming because of coal emissions from the booming economies of Asia.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Canada pooh-poohs Russian Arctic Claims

Okay! Now we are seeing some muscle flexing. Canadian Foreign Minister says "This isn't the 15th century. You can't go around the world and just plant flags and say 'We're claiming this territory'." Exactly! Please dont sit quiet letting the Kremlin do as they please.


Canada's Conservative government is vowing to assert sovereignty over its Arctic lands and waterways. Last month Ottawa said it would build up to eight patrol ships designed to operate in the frozen region, which is believed to hold huge untapped oil and gas reserves.


Monday, July 30, 2007

Russia to plant its flag in the North Pole Seabelt

Image coutesy:GlobalresearchThis is an update to my previous article on how Russia is claiming a huge swathe of the polar region as part of its territorial extension as they are asserting that the underwater geological feature called the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of the Siberian continental shelf.Click on the image to see it in better resolution.

Their earlier claims in 2001 had been nixed by the UN before.However,a team of explorers plan to descend 4,300 metres down to the seabed in a miniature submarine to stake Russia’s claim to this Arctic belt-the combined size of Germany, France and Italy-and plant a one-metre Russian flag, made of titanium.
With four other countries(Canada, the United States, Norway and Denmark)laying claim to the Arctic shelf, this deep seated drive towards imperialism may only lead to more conflict in a resource constrained world.With this move, Russia is sending a clear signal to world powers that it has shrugged off its post-cold war weakness.

[More here...]