Tag Archives: Arctic and Bering Sea Science 2012

Brrrrrrrr: Arctic ice loss responsible for our chilly spring

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Although it’s Cherry Blossom festival time in Washington D.C., Greenpeace’s United States headquarters, we’re still bundled in our winter gear. Turns out that the same warmer temperatures causing Arctic ice loss at record-breaking speeds are responsible for the extreme winter weather and cold temperatures experienced in much of Europe and North America. The ice loss in the Arctic broke a previous 2007 record shrinking 18 percent, according to data published by National Snow & Ice Data Center last fall. Continue reading →

Time is Running Out on the Grand Canyons of the Bering Sea

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Fur Seals on St. George Island in the Bering Sea

On February 5 in Portland, Oregon the fishery honchos holding the fate of the Bering Sea canyons in their hands will get their first look at the scientific evidence Greenpeace has gathered from its submarine expeditions into the amazing Grand Canyons of the Sea.

These remarkable, life-rich canyons are under serious threat from industrial fishing fleets whose massive trawling operations rip this delicate ecosystem apart from the seafloor up.  Greenpeace has been working night and day to protect these canyons, and now, after years of work, two submarine research expeditions, multiple scientific publications, and support from an unprecedented alliance of indigenous stakeholders, environmental groups, scientists, and even seafood businesses, it’s all coming to a head in June. Continue reading →

PHOTOS: Shell fumbles with ancient and hazardous rig in the Arctic

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In another example of why drilling for oil in the Arctic is such a monumentally bad idea, Shell’s drilling rig, the Kulluk, has run aground off the island of Sitkalidak, near Kodiak in Alaska.

The ancient rig was being towed back to harbor after a spectacularly unsuccessful summer drilling season when it ran into serious trouble and hit the shore.

Last Thursday the Kulluk was being towed from the Arctic by Shell’s brand new $200 million tug the Aiviq when it hit heavy weather that caused the 400 foot towing line to break and the rig to drift free. Continue reading →

A freeway through a playground

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Guest blog by Kelly Newman, acoustician at University of Alaska

Listen to the calls of a killer whale and join us to save the Arctic.

I have been staring out at the Chukchi Sea for days, looking for a blow, a flip, a jump, anything that moves. I am hoping to find whales and seals while Greenpeace marine biologist John Hocevar and his co-pilots survey the seafloor with a small two-person research submarine in the Shell’s proposed drill sites. Continue reading →

Greenpeace finds corals at Shell’s proposed Arctic drilling site

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The soft coral species known as the Sea Raspberry (Gersemia sp.) © Jiri Rezac / Greenpeace

Greetings from the Chukchi Sea, way up in the Arctic north of Alaska, where the team aboard the Greenpeace ship Esperanza is using a small submarine to study the seafloor in the area Shell hopes to begin drilling for oil this summer. During what we believe to be the first research submarine dives ever in the Chukchi Sea, we were surprised to discover large numbers of corals in the midst of Shell’s proposed drill site.

Continue reading →

In the Name of Science

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I have been at the mercy of a scientist these past couple days.  Kelly Newman, pictured, is an acoustician, a scientist specializing in the study of sound, from the University of Alaska, and with hydrophones we’ve been out in an inflatable boat doing audio recordings for her Ph.D. research. Today we were recording along the ice edge here in the Chukchi Sea deep in the Arctic.  We’re floating just a few miles from where Shell is planning to drill for oil this summer. Continue reading →

Exploring the Largest Underwater Canyons in the World

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New findings strengthen the case for protecting the Bering Sea Canyons

Building on the research we did in the Bering Sea Canyons in 2007, Greenpeace completed 14 successful submarine dives in July 2012. Explorers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Waitt Institute, and Greenpeace conducted video surveys in Zhemchug and Pribilof canyons, collecting valuable data on the marine life in these unique areas. Continue reading →

Into the Arctic

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Sunrise near the Bering Strait this early morning. Photo by Sune Scheller / Greenpeace

We have now crossed the Polar Circle with the Esperanza and we are in the Arctic, and the Chukchi Sea. Here in this extremely fragile environment, Shell is planning to drill for oil. Home to bowhead whales, polar bears, walrus, numerous species of birds and other animals – this is no place for oil drilling!

Even though today is a fairly calm and peaceful day at sea this is an incredibly harsh environment. Intense gales, unpredictable ice and its extreme remoteness means an oil spill here would be catastrophic. A clean up here would be an exercise in the impossible; it would make the clean up after the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico look like a walk in the park.

We need your help to protect the Arctic. Not only from dangerous oil drilling but also from industrial trawl fishing companies waiting to get their hands on the spoil. We need you to take action and here is a place to start. Continue reading →