• Animals

One Cool Thing: Where’s Walrus?

• sea ice
• walrus
• WWF

Do you have a good eye? Are you surprisingly good at Where’s Waldo and like Walruses? If so, we have great opportunity for you! The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is seeking volunteers to help count Atlantic walruses…from space.   Sea ice is retreating fast as global temperatures rise, forcing walruses to crowd on smaller floes […]

• Ocean

NASA Finds Arctic Ice Melt Forms Clouds that Fuel Warming

• Arctic
• ice melt
• sea ice

By Amy Lupica, ODP Daily Editor Scientists have discovered another vicious cycle that has taken root in our environment due to climate change — this time, between sea ice and clouds. New NASA research has found that melting arctic ice is exposing the surface of the Arctic ocean, in turn fueling cloud formations that blanket […]

• Animals

“Penguin Protection System” Could Change the Tides for Emperor Penguins

• Antarctica
• climate change
• penguins
• sea ice

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Some of the largest emperor penguin colonies have failed to produce any chicks in the last three years and Iranian architect Sajjad Navidi aims to change that using innovative Antarctic architecture. To combat the habitat loss that emperor penguins face due to climate change and polar ice melt, Navidi […]

• Climate Change

NOAA Releases Annual Arctic Report Card, Reports Unprecedented Warming

• Alaska
• Arctic
• climate change
• NOAA
• permafrost
• sea ice
• warming
• whales
• wildfires

On Tuesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its 15^th annual Arctic Report Card. It observed a “sustained transformation to a warmer, less frozen, and biologically changed Arctic.”  The holistic report is a collection of “vital signs” from the Arctic ecosystem and factors in variables like wildlife, air temperature, wildfires, and sea ice.

Why This Matters: In a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, the Arctic is warming at a rate 2 to 3 times higher than the global average

• Weather

Europe Just Experienced Its Hottest October on Record

• excessive heat
• extreme heat
• hot weather
• sea ice

by Ashira Morris, ODP Contributing Writer Last month was the hottest October in Europe in history. It’s part of the ongoing warming trend brought about by climate change. As Bloomberg reported, Siberia, Alaska, and parts of the South America and African continents also experienced heatwaves last month.  “This October did not bring a surprising record, […]

• Water

Siberia’s Arctic Sea Ice Hasn’t Formed Yet This Year

• climate change
• ice
• sea ice
• Siberia

by Ashira Morris, ODP Contributing Writer We’ve reached another dangerous climate milestone: for the first time in recorded history, it’s late October and there is no Arctic in Siberia’s Laptev sea. The seasonal sea ice usually melts in the summer and reforms by this time. These ice-free waters put Arctic sea ice at its lowest […]