The Latest Breaking News from the Arctic Ocean

Explained | Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, say scientists

Considerable effort has been invested in determining when the Arctic Ocean might first become ice-free in summer, a.k.a. a “blue ocean event” and defined as when the sea ice area drops below 1 million sq. km. We don’t know exactly when the last blue ocean event happened, but one in…

The Hindu · Jun 20, 2023

Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by 2030s, say scientists – this would have global, damaging and dangerous consequences

The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free in summer by the 2030s, even if we do a good job of reducing emissions between now and then. That’s the worrying conclusion of a new study in Nature Communications.

The Conversation · Jun 6, 2023

Microplastics: we've found startling quantities in the ice algae that are essential for all Arctic marine life

Last summer, we travelled to the remote Arctic Hausgarten observatory area in the eastern Fram Strait (west of Svalbard, Norway) on a research ship. The samples we collected there included ice cores, sea water and ice algae from large packs of floating ice called ice floes. These form 1–2 metre…

The Conversation · May 11, 2023