TORONTO —
It’s long been thought the area deemed the “Last Ice Area” — a region of the Arctic spanning the top of Greenland and Canada — would remain safe for ice-dwelling creatures through consistently strong ice even if neighbouring areas became inhospitable.
But recent research finding a record low of sea-ice concentration in part of the region last summer is suggesting that the Last Ice Area is more vulnerable to climate change than we previously thought.
“Current thinking is that this area may be the last refuge for ice-dependent species,” Axel Schweiger, a polar scientist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory and lead author of the research, said in a press release.
“So if, as our study shows, it may be more vulnerable to climate change than people have been assuming, that’s important.”
The Wandel Sea normally is almost entirely covered by ice that has survived for multiple years and remains thick year-round, even during the summer.
But when a German icebreaker called Polarstern was attempting to sail through the area in August 2020, mapping the route with satellite images, the images showed that their path was less obstructed than usual.
Researchers say the satellite images found just 50 per cent sea ice concentration in the area on August 14, a record low.
“Sea ice circulates through the Arctic, it has a particular pattern, and it naturally ends up piling up against Greenland and the northern Canadian coast,” Schweiger said. “In climate models, when you spin them forward over the coming century, that area has the tendency to have ice survive in the summer the longest.”
While sea ice has been thinning in these regions in recent years as part of a long-term trend, the numbers came as a surprise. Researchers note that at the start of 2020, the ice thickness in the area was slightly thicker than previous years, and that at the start of the summer the levels were close to normal, suggesting that temporary gains in ice thickness do little to slow overall ice loss.
“During the winter and spring of 2020 you had patches of older, thicker ice that had drifted into there, but there was enough thinner, newer ice that melted to expose open ocean,” Schweiger said. “That began a cycle of absorbing heat energy to melt more ice, in spite of the fact that there was some thick ice. So in years where you replenish the ice cover in this region with older and thicker ice, that doesn’t seem to help as much as you might expect.”
Not every disruption of sea ice in the region is caused by climate change; in 2018, unexpected winds pushed sea ice away from the coast of Greenland and created wide stretches of ocean hemmed in by ice.
The majority of this recent loss in ice concentration observed in the study is thought to be largely caused by unusual weather. Researchers modelled the period from June 1 to August 16, 2020, and found that 80 per cent of the record low was caused by weather-related factors, including winds that break up ice and push it around.
However, one fifth of the damage was caused by long-term thinning of the ice due to global warming. The impact of climate change is something researchers are concerned about, saying it “contributed significantly to the record low” in the study.
“[Winds] transported sea ice out of the region and allowed the accumulation of heat from the absorption of solar radiation in the ocean,” the study stated. “This heat was mixed upward and contributed to rapid melt during high wind events.”
Climate change is one of the driving factors behind the growing trend of thinner ice and more open water. The study also points out that extreme weather events such as storms, heat waves or floods are increased by climate change’s effect, showing how it can exacerbate existing weather patterns or issues.
“Given the long-term thinning trend and strong interannual variability in atmospheric forcing, it seems reasonable to expect that summer sea ice conditions in the [Wandel Sea] will likely become more variable in the future,” the study explained.
While researchers only looked at the Wandel Sea, this new data does bring up questions for the future of the Last Ice Area.
The Last Ice Area includes wide swathes of ice that connects islands in the northernmost parts of Canada, above Baffin Island. It supports numerous species of Arctic marine animals, such as polar bears, bearded seals, ringed seals and walruses.
“This area has long been expected to be the primary refuge for ice-dependent species because it is one of the last places where we expect summer sea ice to survive in the Arctic,” co-author Kristin Laidre, a principal scientist at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, said in the release.
What affect more open water could have on these species is unknown.
“We know very little about marine mammals in the Last Ice Area,” Laidre said. “We have almost no historical or present-day data, and the reality is that there are a lot more questions than answers about the future of these populations.”
So is the Last Ice Area at risk? We can’t tell yet. But more research needs to be done.
“Our work suggests a re-examination of climate model simulations in this area, since most do not predict summer 2020-level low [sea ice thicknesses] until several decades or more into the future,” the study said.
“While the [Wandel Sea] is only one part of the LIA, our results should give us pause when making assumptions about the persistence and resilience of summer sea ice in the LIA.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
