Circumpolar Newsings
Samples from Syrian seed bank sheltered in Arctic doomsday vault 
(AP via Washington Post, 27 February 2012) -- STOCKHOLM - Chick peas, fava beans and other seeds from a facility in Syria are among the 25,000 new samples being deposited this week in an Arctic seed vault built to protect food crops from wars and natural disasters, officials said Tuesday. The latest additions mean that the Svalbard Global Seed Vault — a master backup to the world’s other seed banks — has now secured more than 740,000 samples since it opened in a remote Norwegian archipelago in 2008. That represents an estimated three-quarters of the biological diversity of the world’s major food crops, said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which maintains the vault with Norway’s government and the Nordic Genetic Resources Center. With the shipment from the Syria-based International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, almost its entire collection is now backed up in Svalbard, Fowler told The Associated Press. “I think the events unfolding in Syria obviously underline the importance of having safety duplication outside of a country,” he said, adding the facility had not been damaged in the military crackdown on an anti-government uprising. He noted that wars destroyed seed banks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another one in Egypt was looted during last year’s uprising. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault — sometimes referred to as a doomsday vault — is designed to withstand global warming, earthquakes and even nuclear strikes.
Posted 27 February 2012; 11:36:17 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Circumpolar News, Conservation and wildlife, February12, International, Norway, Svalbard
No more pilot-free sailing around Svalbard
(Trude Pettersen/Barents Observer, 21 February 2012) -- To ensure safety at sea in the vulnerable fjords of Svalbard Norway is establishing a system for compulsory pilotage on the Arctic Archipelago. Compulsory pilotage in the fjords of Svalbard is an issue that has been discussed for many years. Many of the fjords on Svalbard are quite dangerous with strong torrents and narrow fairways. The decree on pilotage will be put into force gradually. Already this summer, vessels going to the Svea coal mine will need to have a pilot onboard. From 2013 all passenger vessels with a length of 150 meters or more, which means all larger cruise vessels, will need a pilot when going into one of the fjords on Svalbard. Compulsory pilotage will come fully into force from the sailing season of 2014. All boats longer than 70 meters and all passenger vessels longer than 24 meters will then need to have a pilot when entering one of the fjords. Smaller boats used for tourist cruises and day trips can apply for exemption from the compulsory pilotage if the navigator on board has a Pilot Exemption Certificate, Svalbardposten writes.
Posted 27 February 2012; 11:10:28 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Circumpolar News, February12, Infrastructure, transportation, Norway, Svalbard, Tourism
War memorial to honor WWII reindeer battalions
(Trude Petersen/BarentsObserver, 27 February 2012) -- During World War II the Soviet Army established the world’s only reindeer transport battalion. More than 1000 reindeer herders and 6000 reindeer were mobilized from Nenets Autonomous Okrug to the Karelian Front. In addition to the Nenets, also reindeer herders from Murmansk, Arkhangelsk and Komi districts were mobilized to the front. During 1944, the Karelian Front participated in the final offensive against Finland which led to the Soviet-Finnish armistice. In October 1944 it conducted the Petsamo-Kirkenes Operation, capturing parts of northern Finland and liberating the easternmost parts of Norway from German occupation. The Karelian Front conducted the only successful major military operation ever undertaken in an Arctic environment in modern warfare. Reindeer proved to be very useful in Arctic operations. One reindeer can pull up to 50 kg on a sledge behind it. They transported not only food and ammunition, they also carried urgent orders to officers and they carried mail, wounded soldiers and pilots from downed aircrafts back to their lines. The reindeer were even successfully used to pull downed aircrafts back to sites and units where they could be repaired. Read more about ethnic minorities and warfare at the Arctic front 1939-1945 here.
Posted 27 February 2012; 10:53:40 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Circumpolar History, Circumpolar News, February12, Prizes, awards and recognitions, Russia
Even in winter, life persists in Arctic seas
(NSF press release 12-034, 22 february 2012) -- Despite brutal cold and lingering darkness, life in the frigid waters off Alaska does not grind to a halt in the winter as scientists previously suspected. According to preliminary results from a National Science Foundation-funded research cruise, microscopic creatures at the base of the Arctic food chain are not dormant as expected. After working aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy for six weeks in waters where winds sometimes topped 70 knots, wind chills fell to -40 degrees and samples often had to be hustled safely inside before seawater froze to the deck, researchers are back in their labs, assembling for the first time a somewhat unexpected picture of how microscopic creatures survive winter in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Although they have much more work to do before publishing their results, they say they are surprised on a number of fronts, including the discovery of active zooplankton--microscopic organisms that drift or wander in ocean, seas or bodies of fresh water. "The zooplankton community seemed to be quite active, said Carin Ashjian of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the chief scientist on the expedition. "They were feeding at low rates. That was a surprise." Ashjian is scheduled to discuss the preliminary results from the cruise during a session at the American Geophysical Union's 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah this week.
Posted 27 February 2012; 10:40:40 PM. Permalink
Tagged: Arctic Ocean, Circumpolar News, February12, Flora and Fauna, Research
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