Sharks, Snakes and Giant Squid: Climate Change Driving Exotic Species North Into B.C. B.C. has long been a magnet for two-legged North Americans with a taste for mild weather. Now, thanks to an ever warmer climate, the province has hung out an irresistible welcome sign for creatures with four legs, six legs and, for ocean dwellers, no legs. B.C. is becoming a destination for crawling, flying and swimming immigrants as part of a global trend in which fish, bird, bug and land animals' ranges are expanding northward, researchers say. The Province

USARC Releases a New Publication! Alaskan Water and Sanitation Retrospective 1970-2005 The purpose of this retrospective is to inform the water and sanitation industry and the general public about technologies deployed in rural Alaskan villages between ~1970 and 2005. We indicate, per interviewee input, why the majority failed on a technical level or failed to provide adequate water on an as-used basis to improve health outcomes. This retrospective will supplement prior, and often meager, documentation of unsuccessful approaches to water and sanitation in Alaska, as both a cautionary tale and as a benchmark against which progress can be made. US Arctic Research Commission

Scientists Predict Gradual, Prolonged Permafrost Greenhouse Gas Emissions. A new scientific synthesis suggests a gradual, prolonged release of greenhouse gases from permafrost soils in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, which may afford society more time to adapt to environmental changes, say scientists in a paper published in Nature today. "Twenty years ago there was very little research about the possible rate of permafrost carbon release," said co-author A. David McGuire, a senior scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and a climate modeling expert with the Institute of Arctic Biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "In 2011, we assembled an international team of scientists into the Permafrost Carbon Network to synthesize existing research and answer the questions of how much permafrost carbon is out there, how vulnerable to decomposition it is once it's thawed, and what are the forms in which it's released into the atmosphere." US Geological Survey

70 Percent of Western Canada's Glaciers Will Disappear by 2100. Glaciers have helped shape the iconic mountains of Western Canada, hewing rock into a jagged landscape. But the days of the Canadian Rockies' majestic glaciers could be numbered-a new report suggests that by 2100, the glaciers of Alberta and British Columbia could lose 70 to 90 percent of their volume. The study used global climate models and physics to simulate the impact of climate change on Western Canada's glaciers. With the help of new high-resolution projection tactics, the team was able to look at a number of different scenarios, all of which were dire. By 2100, the team warns, "few glaciers will remain in the Interior and Rockies regions, but maritime glaciers, in particular those in northwestern British Columbia, will survive in a diminished state. Smithsonian Magazine

US Canada Eye North Warning Upgrade: NORAD. The United States and Canada plan to replace the radar along the North Warning sites across the Canadian Arctic, suggested Admiral William Gortney, head of the Canada-U.S. National Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and of the Northern Command, at an April 7 news conference in Washington, D.C. Gortney said that, in about 10 years, the current tracking equipment will "reach a point of obsolescence and we're going to have to reinvest for that capability." "The question is, what sort of technology do we want to use to reconstitute that capability? We don't want to put in the same sorts of sensors, because they're not effective against the low-altitude, say, cruise missiles. They can't see over the horizon." Nunatsiaq Online

Fixing 'Bugs' in Climate Models: Accounting for Melting Permafrost. Abrupt climate change within a decade triggered by runaway melting of Arctic permafrost is extremely unlikely, according to a study published in Nature yesterday. Rather, the permafrost, or frozen ground, in the Northern Hemisphere will take decades or centuries to melt and release the carbon stored in the soil. The release will not trigger a catastrophe per se but will exacerbate global warming. "These are large and significant releases, so, over a century, we are going to release 100 billion tons or more of carbon to the atmosphere," said Edward Schuur, a biologist at Northern Arizona University and lead author of the study. E&E News

The Arctic Has Lost So Much Ice That Now People Want to Race Yachts Through It. This year, we've seen yet another Arctic milestone - sea ice covering the top of the world reached the lowest maximum extent yet observed in winter, when ice is at its peak. That means that in the last four years, Arctic sea ice has seen a new low both for its seasonal winter peak (in 2015) and for its summer minimum (in 2012). We often hear about how damaging this will be to Arctic ecosystems and cultures - but many people see new opportunities in a less icy Arctic. It's not just shipping and industry, it's also competitors and adventurers. One case in point: Sailing the Arctic Race, an "extreme yacht race" that is being proposed for the summer-fall of 2017, when crews would race 7,700 miles through the fabled Northwest Passage on a trip from New York to Victoria, British Columbia via the top of the world. Washington Post

Research: A New Danish Website Will Seek to Make Research Easier By Allowing Scholars to Tap Into Existing Information About the Region. Danish officials will today launch a new website aimed at improving co-operation between Arctic researchers in Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands in order to facilitate improved research into the changes facing the region. The website, Isaaffik, meaning 'gateway' in Greenlandic, will be maintained by the Arctic Research Centre at Aarhus University and is intended to to make it easier for those involved in the field to share information about research, education, consultancy and logistics. Arctic Journal