January 4, 2012

International

Tons of scrap to be transported from Russian Arctic in 2012 (January 4, 2012): Russia plans to continue its large-scaled clean-up of Arctic islands in 2012. As much as 18 000 tons of scrap metal will be shipped out through the Nenets port of Amderma. Russia wants to clean up the environmental mess on its Arctic Islands and has allocated hundreds of millions of rubles for the work over the coming years.

Russian fuel tanker due to head for ice-encrusted Nome (January 3, 2012): Sometime Tuesday night, an Arctic tanker from the Russian Far East is expected to slip out of Dutch Harbor steaming northward for one of the most remote communities in the United States. It will be joined by an American polar icebreaker -- the cutter Healy, a state-of-the-art ship relatively new to the Coast Guard’s fleet. Together, they will spend days powering through up to 300 miles of sea ice, a first for winter shipping in Alaska.

Floating Arctic University (January 4, 2012): A floating university for Arctic research and Arctic staff training will be created in the Russian northern port city of Arkhangelsk. Lectures and practical courses will take place aboard the Professor Molchanov research vessel. A pilot project of the Arctic Federal University and the Arctic Hydro-Meteorological Service will give the students a real feel of what the Arctic is like. Twenty-five Arctic University students, a team of meteorologists and a group of researchers from the Institute of the Arctic and Antarctica will take part in the expedition.

National

New-build Polar Icebreaker  (January 4, 2012): Canadian Coast Guard's (CCG) largest and most capable icebreaker, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, is scheduled for decommissioning in 2017. Consequently, Budget 2008 provided funds for the acquisition of a new Canadian-built multi-purpose Polar Icebreaker. The only other heavy icebreaker, CCGS Terry Fox, is scheduled for decommissioning in 2020. The new Polar Icebreaker will be named after former Prime Minister John George Diefenbaker (CCGS John G. Diefenbaker), one of Canadian history's great champions of developing and protecting Canada's North.

Regional

Iqaluit: Canada’s most expensive rental market (January 3, 2012): Housing agency report also shows Nunavut has country's highest core housing needs If you pay rent in Iqaluit, this news will come as no surprise: Iqalummiut paid the highest rents in the country last year. In 2010, Iqaluit renters paid an average of $2,265 a month in the private rental market for a two-bedroom apartment in Nunavut’s capital, according to the latest figures from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp.

Shear Announces Positive Water License NWB Decision for Jericho Diamond Mine (January 3, 2012): Shear Diamonds Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SRM) is pleased to announce that the Nunavut Water Board (“NWB”) issued a positive decision on the water license application for the Jericho Diamond Mine. The NWB has recommended to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Northern Development Canada (AANDC) that an eight year Type A water license be issued to its wholly-owned subsidiary, Shear Diamonds (Nunavut) Corp., covering the re-commissioning, operation and ultimate reclamation of the Jericho Diamond project. The previous water license for the Jericho Diamond mine was for a total of six years.

N.W.T. ups price paid for polar bear pelts to $1,750 as demand for the fur rises (January 3, 2012): Just as Ottawa is drawing up polar bear management plans and mulling the animal’s promotion to National Symbol, the Northwest Territories is now paying an extra $1,350 for polar bear hides. Hunters in the Northwest Territories used to receive $400 when they submitted polar bear pelts to Genuine Mackenzie Valley Furs, a government-run fur marketer. For this season, authorities have upped the figure to $1750.

Stanton Hospital going smokeless as of Valentine's Day (January 3, 2012): It's not going to be a Happy Valentine's Day for smokers at Stanton Territorial Hospital. As of Feb. 14th, there will be no smoking permitted on hospital property by patients, employees, or guests.

Yk music festival on the lookout for Northern acts (January 3, 2012): Calling all Northern bands and singers, Folk on the Rocks is looking for you. Eighty acts will be performing at the annual music festival in July and the organizing committee is hoping that half of them will be from the NWT, Nunavut, and Yukon. Executive director Penny Ruvinsky said depending on the contract, performers could receive lots of exposure.

Police make arrests in Pangnirtung post office theft (January 3, 2012): RCMP says it has recovered most of the stolen parcels Police in Pangnirtung have made an arrest in connection with a December break-in and theft at the community’s Canada Post storage facility, the RCMP said Jan. 3. Police arrested 20-year-old Pangnirtung resident Moar Akulukjuk, who faces 19 charges, including break and enter, theft, breach of probation, theft of mail and resisting arrest.

Iqaluit soup kitchen feeds body and soul (January 3, 2012): “What makes it so worthwhile is how thankful everyone is” At five minutes to 12 when the door opens at Iqaluit’s soup kitchen, a line of hungry people forms, all ready for a hot lunch. But no one eats before Rus Blanchet, St. Jude’s Anglican Church outreach minister, says a quick prayer. The soup kitchen serves between 35 and 50 people a day, five days a week.

Arctic airbase expansion eyed at Resolute Bay (January 3, 2012): Community could become a key base for Royal Canadian Air Force's Arctic operations, documents say The Royal Canadian Air Force has looked at a major expansion at Resolute Bay as it considers transforming it into a key base for Arctic operations, according to documents obtained by Postmedia. The construction of a 3,000-metre paved runway, hangars, fuel installations and other infrastructure has been proposed as part of an effort to support government and military operations in the North.

Igloolik dealing with potential rabies outbreak (January 4, 2012): Some people bringing hockey sticks on walk to work for safety The hamlet of Igloolik, Nunavut, is dealing with a potential rabies outbreak. In early December, a fox showing no fear of humans was caught and sent out for testing. The results came back positive for rabies. Ever since, the Government of Nunavut and the hamlet office have asked people to be careful when going outdoors.

Rare Narwhal Harvest Near Edward’s Cove (January 3, 2012): A number of Nain residents were treated to a rare delicacy this week. Narwhal muktuk and meat were distributed throughout the community following an extremely rare harvest of the animal on Monday. Harry Haye was one of a number of hunters who participated in the harvest. He says the animal was trapped in some open water near Edward’s Cove, right outside of the Voisey’s Bay mine site.

Climate Change

Climate change models may underestimate extinctions (January 4, 2012): Predictions of the loss of animal and plant diversity around the world are common under models of future climate change. But a new study shows that because these climate models don't account for species competition and movement, they could grossly underestimate future extinctions.

Swedish study maps climate’s affect on reindeer migration (January 3, 2012): Thanks to GPS-marked reindeer, Sami herders in the Swedish village of Vilhelmina Norra are learning more about how weather conditions affect reindeer grazing Together with Umeå University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Vilhelmina Norra is working on a project to map reindeer adaptation to climate change.

Climate change sinks another Alaska village (January 3, 2012): The permafrost has sunk so much in one Northwest Alaska village that bridges are shifting, outdoor stairways hang over the ground and sagging water pipes are prone to break and freeze. Those are a few of the ways climate change is affecting life in the Inupiat village of Selawik, according to the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium's Center for Climate and Health. "You essentially have the Venice of Northwest Alaska, where the whole community is gradually sinking and people are struggling with how they'll possibly fix all this," said Michael Brubaker, with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

Other

Museum of Civilization To Display Rare Watercolour of HMS Terror in Early Exploration of Canadian Arctic (January 3, 2012): The Canadian Museum of Civilization has acquired at auction in Britain a dramatic watercolour by the nineteenth-century Arctic explorer and artist Admiral Sir George Back, whose drawings and paintings are recognized as an invaluable visual record of the early exploration of the Canadian Arctic. The painting depicts an immense iceberg towering one hundred metres above the illustrious British vessel HMS Terror and one of its boats in the waters off the southeast coast of Baffin Island.

How Arctic Alaska sea ice monitoring benefits scientists, industrialists (January 2, 2012): A Bering Sea swell rises 20 feet and compresses the seabed with tons of extra mass, sending a tiny seismic wave rippling through Earth. Heavy surf pounds a bedrock beach on Alaska’s west coast, and the Earth beyond rumbles with miniscule but detectable motion. The home planet is perpetually ahum with such ocean-generated microseismic waves. Well-placed sensors can record this low-power energy, allowing scientists to eavesdrop, in a sense, on the restless sea. But what happens when the ocean starts to freeze and the growing pack ice dampens the size and power of swell and surf?