EU Suspects Russian Agenda in Migrants' Shifting Arctic Route. So many decrepit Soviet-era cars carried migrants into Europe from this frozen Russian town in recent months that border officials in Finland, who confiscate the rust-bucket vehicles as soon as they cross the frontier, watched in dismay as their parking lot turned into a scrapyard. To clear up the mess and provide some space for freshly confiscated cars, the Finnish customs service set up a separate dumping ground. New York Times 

 

Hard-to-Find Retired EPA Scientist Tells Where He's Been and Why he Fought Pebble. A retired government scientist who has been described as elusive and secretive by those backing the proposed Pebble mine is now speaking up in force about why he so opposes the project and what he did to block it. Pebble Limited Partnership considers Phil North the key agent in what it calls an improper, back-channel scheme of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to restrict its proposed open-pit gold and copper mine at the headwaters of salmon-rich Bristol Bay. Alaska Dispatch News

 

For Years, We've Had These Key Details About Greenland's Melting All Wrong. Ice melt in Greenland is one of the biggest preoccupations for climate scientists today, mostly because of the ice sheet's potential contributions to sea-level rise. But there's still a lot we don't know about the processes that contribute to melting, how they interact with one another and how fast they work. Now, researchers say they've collected new data in Greenland that reveals how wrong some assumptions about the ice sheet have been -- and the new information could fundamentally change our understanding of how future climate change may affect the ice. Alaska Dispatch News

 

This Week in the Arctic: The Navy Looks North. The U.S. Navy has closed its camp on the Arctic Ocean sea ice ( early, because of safety concerns, even as reports came that the ice reached its lowest extent ever), a part of its Ice Exercise 2016. The exercise wasn't only about testing military preparedness in the Arctic; scientists also accompanied the Navy, studying things like the layer of warm water called the Beaufort Lens. Elsewhere in the Arctic, the Navy is bringing planes back to Iceland for the first time in a nearly decade. Marc Lanteigne, a senior research fellow at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, writing in The Arctic Journal, says that move "reflects wider American concerns about Arctic security." Some of those concerns include a ramped-up Russian military presence in the region -- though U.S.-Russian cooperation within the Arctic remains stronger than elsewhere in the world. Alaska Dispatch News

 

The Art of Arctic Elements Through the Eyes of Native Nevadan. In light of the US Chairmanship of the Arctic Council, the US Dept. of State is hosting a  blog titled, "Our Arctic Nation." Each week, an author from a US state describes how it is connected to the Arctic. Last week's entry features Nevada and was authored by Megan Berner, a visual artist from Reno. US State Department

 

Warmer Winters Forcing Engineers to Rethink Technologies to Chill Permafrost Under Roads. Rush-hour traffic if often heavy on Thompson Drive. Most vehicles move along at a brisk pace, probably over the speed limit, along the street that cuts through a permafrost-ridden area just south of the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. The smooth flow of traffic may be at least partly due to the smooth pavement on Thompson Drive, which does not suffer from the humps and dips common to most roads built over permafrost in Alaska's Interior. KUAC

 

Lakes Created 'From Scratch' Try to Replace Fish Habitat in Alberta's Oilsands Regions. Compelled by government requirements, several energy companies with operations in Alberta's oilsands have constructed fake lakes nearby to replace fish habitat their companies have destroyed. It's not enough to dig a pit, fill it with water and leave, says University of Alberta biologist Mark Poesch, an assistant professor in the department of renewable resources. "It's really creating a new ecosystem from scratch, which is pretty exciting for a biologist," Poesch said. Edmonton Journal

 

Arctic Rescue Fears Loom as Massive Cruise Ship Prepares to Sail Northwest Passage. As a large cruise ship gets ready to sail the Northwest Passage this summer, there are safety concerns about how prepared the Canadian Coast Guard would be should something go wrong. The mammoth Crystal Serenity cruise ship will make its inaugural 32-day voyage through the waters in August, with about 1,000 passengers and more than 600 crew on board. It is the first of the world's big cruise companies to try something like this. CBC News

 

No Evidence for Seasonal Affective Disorder, Says Researcher. A long dark winter can be mentally and physically exhausting, but a recent study published in the journal of Clinical Psychological Science challenges the idea that it's making people depressed. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is commonly believed to affect a significant portion of the population in the Northern Hemisphere during the darker winter months. CBC News

 

Scientists Plan to Freeze a Ship into the Arctic Icepack. Winter in the Arctic is changing rapidly-scientists recently broke the news that the sea ice in the far north covered the puniest area of ocean ever recorded this winter. But it's still unclear how, exactly, these changes are taking place. That's partly because most research voyages can only be made in the summer, when waters are navigable and temperatures bearable. But the long, dark days of winter, when weather is erratic and temperatures can drop to -50 degrees Fahrenheit, and massive ice floes make navigation dangerous, are exactly when Matthew Shupe wants to be there most. Newsweek

 

As Oceans Rise, Arctic Circle Town Offers Front-Row Seat to Climate Change. Melting ice in Antarctica could raise sea levels by as much as 3 feet by the end of this century. That's according to new research out this week. With ice melting fast in other places, too, scientists now predict the total rise of the sea could reach 5 or 6 feet by 2100. And the impact will be felt from Antarctica all the way to the other tip of the planet, the Arctic Circle. That is home to Richard Beneville. He is the mayor of Nome, Alaska. National Public Radio

 

BSEE Studies Arctic Response Challenges. The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement tested a Geo-Referencing Identification Satellite (GRIDSAT) tag project at the U.S. Navy's Ice Camp Sargo, a temporary station on top of a floating ice sheet in the Arctic, as part of Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2016, the agency reported. The project tested the deployment and communication of the system and left several marking devices on the ice for long-term duration studies. Occupational Health & Safety