Arcticportal News

Most of the Arctic states (Photo: nsidc.org) The warming Arctic is give Europe and North America cold springshave already welcomed spring. Majority of them, have only seen it on the calendar as temperatures have been staying on the negative side of a meter. Why hasn´t a spring truly arrived yet?

Climatologists blame an unprecedented melting of Arctic sea ice. According to their research it is the reason for this year's extraordinary cold spring weather in northern Europe and North America.

A massive high pressure has been stable over major parts of the northern hemisphere weeks longer than normal, while the traditional warm winds from the Atlantic Sea have been absent. The consequence has been temperatures far below the seasonal average.

The reason for the trend is the powerful warming and subsequent ice melting in the Arctic, researchers believe.

While northern Europe this spring has experienced cold and dry weather, North America has had low temperatures and late snow. Figures from the Norwegian Meteological Institute show that southern Norway in the period January-March had average temperatures between 2-4 degrees below normal. Northern Norway, meanwhile, had temperatures significantly above the average and snow and rain in abundance.

Data from National Snow and Ice Database suggest that the Arctic sea ice extent in March 2013 averaged 15.04 million square kilometers (5.81 million square miles). This is 710,000 kilometers (274,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average extent, and 610,000 square kilometers (236,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which happened in 2006. Continuing a trend in recent winters, ice extent was near or below average levels throughout most of the Arctic, with the exception of higher extent in the Bering Sea.

(Photo: Getty Images) Chinese investors are interested in building deep water harbor in Arkhangelsk Oblast, according to Deputy Governor of the region. It is believed that a new deep water harbor is the natural ending point of the infrastructure development around the area.

Alsufyev and Dmitry Deart, who is Head of the Department for Transport, have just returned from China, where they took part in the third meeting in the joint Russian-Chinese working group on the Belkomur project.

They presented the deep-water harbor project to Chinese investors, who showed "principal interest" in developing the port of Arkhangelsk, the regional administration's web site reads.

The planned deep-water port in Arkhangelsk, which is included in Russia's transport strategy for the period to 2030, will have an annual capacity of 30 million tons.

(Photo: NSIDC) Arctic sea ice extent for March 2013 was 15.04 million square kilometers (5.81 million square miles). The magenta line shows the 1979 to 2000 median extent for that monthArctic sea ice extent in March 2013 averaged 15.04 million square kilometers (5.81 million square miles). This is 710,000 kilometers (274,000 square miles) below the 1979 to 2000 average extent, and 610,000 square kilometers (236,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, which happened in 2006.

Continuing a trend in recent winters, ice extent was near or below average levels throughout most of the Arctic, with the exception of higher extent in the Bering Sea.

The Arcic sea ice is one of the key symbols of the cold and barren Arctic Region. It affects lives of both, Arctic and non – Arctic residents.

The Arctic sea ice significantly contributes to the world weather patterns and it helps to keep the globes temperatures down.

The measurements that have been conducted for the past six years show that the Arctic sea ice has been decreasing. Scientists predict that this pattern will lead to the ice – free Arctic before 2050.

Click here to find daily reports on Arctic sea ice. To read more about the Arctic sea ice, climate change and more, please access the Arctic Portal Climate Change & Sea Ice Portlet.

The sea divided into east and west. Click to enlarge (Map by Arctic Portal)

Diplomats and fisheries officials from five Arctic states will meet in Washington later this month to discuss regulations on commercial fishing near the North Pole.

Government representatives from five Arctic states, i.e. Norway, Denmark, Canada, United States and Russia, agreed yesterday to meet later this month in order to discuss the laws that will apply to commercial fishing within the Arctic Circle.

About 70 percent of the world's total white fish supply comes from Arctic waters. This marine resource is extremely significant to Arctic regional and coastal communities.

Fishing in the Circumpolar North has been and is a significant economic resource. Fishing is also rooted in the culture of many of the Arctic nations.

Click to enlarge. (Graph by Arctic Portal - Numbers from Statistics Iceland)

Now Exclusive Economic Zones divide where nations can catch fish but this economic activity has shaped the cultural values in the Arctic and is an important factor in the daily life of the coastal residents.

If an agreement is made, it will represent the third such accord struck by countries in the far north to manage the commercial development and industrialization of the region, which is expected to increase with global warming. The other two agreements reached so far regulate oil spill response and search and rescue.

The 12th Conference on Polar Meteorology and Oceanography that will take place in Seattle, Washington on 29th of April, is sponsored by the American Meteorological Society and organized by the AMS Polar Meteorology and Oceanography Committee.

This year it will treat not only about natural science but also serve as a place to discuss legal and political issues between Arctic stakeholders.

(Photo: Icelandic - Arctic Cooperation Network) Antony Speca at the University of AkureyriToday, 18th of April at the University of Akureyri in northern Iceland, Anthony Speca gave speech on Nunavut, Greenland and politics of resource revenues. Another lecture from The Arctic Lecture series, organised by the University of Akureyri, touched upon economic situation in Canadian North and Greenland. Mr Speca highlighted that the idea that Nunavut could one day put more into Confederation than it takes out is not a flight of fancy.

Nunavut's entire 2011-12 territorial formula financing grant of about $1.2 billion is less than half of the resource income that Newfoundland and Labrador, the newest net-contributing of "have" province, is projected to collect the same year.

If self-reliance is truly Nunavut's aim in negotiatingdevolution, then it seems sensible for Nunavut to align. Co nceptually the fiscal self-reliance it will gain from a share of resource revenues with the political self-reliance it will gain from more province-like power over resource development.

Anthony Speca is founder and Managing Principal of Polar Aspect, a Nunavut-based consultancy dedicated to public policy, government strategy and economic negotiation in the Canadian and circumpolar North.

(Photo: IACN) Borgir Research Center in Akureyri, where the office of the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation is. He has advised government on fiscal policy and the devolution of lands and resources, particularly fiscal federalism and resource-revenue sharing.

As a columnist for Northern Public Affairs magazine, Anthony also writes on international politics and economics in the Arctic, and its implications for Canada. Anthony is a trained negotiator and accredited mediator, with a special focus on negotiations and disputes involving government, indigenous peoples, or rural or resource-based business.

Anthony trained as a negotiator at the London School of Economics and Political Science and was accredited as a mediator in both the UK and USA in 2013. Anthony obtained a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1999.

His research culminated in his book, Hypothetical Syllogistic and Stoic Logic (Brill 2001).

For more detailed information about the politics of resource revenues of these northern terretories, plese see the Speca's report here.