NSF documentary about the race against nature to understand and meet the challenges of the rapidly changing Arctic

The 90-million-year-old resin offers a rare trace of a long-lost ecosystem.

Dewing, K; Hadlari, T; Pearson, D G; Matthews, W. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2019 p. 1-20, https://doi.org/10.1130/B35017.1
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McMartin, I; Godbout, P -M; Campbell, J E; Tremblay, T; Behnia, P. 2020 NWT and Nunavut Geoscience Forum, presentations; 2020 p. 1, 1 sheet

Bédard, J H; Saumur, B -M; Williamson, M -C; Tegner, C; Troll, V R; Deegan, F M; Evenchick, C A; Grasby, S E; Dewing, K. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8759, 2020, 7 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/327829
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Galloway, J M; Dewing, K; Piepjohn, K; Smith, I R. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8750, 2020, 44 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/327426
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Naber, T V; Grasby, S E; Cuthbertson, J P; Rayner, N; Tegner, C. Geological Society of America Bulletin 2020 p. 1-17, https://doi.org/10.1130/B35792.1

McMartin, I; Godbout, P -M; Campbell, J E; Tremblay, T; Behnia, P. GSA 2020 Connects Online - Geological Society of America Annual Meeting; Geological Society of America, Abstracts With Programs vol. 52, no. 6, 129-3, 2020 p. 1, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2020AM-354703
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/20200344.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/20200344.jpg" title="GSA 2020 Connects Online - Geological Society of America Annual Meeting; Geological Society of America, Abstracts With Programs vol. 52, no. 6, 129-3, 2020 p. 1, https://doi.org/10.1130/abs/2020AM-354703" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Fallas, K M. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8738, 2020, 17 pages, https://doi.org/10.4095/326944
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Saumur, B M; Williamson, M -C; Bédard, J H. Geoconvention 2020, abstract archive; 2020 p. 1
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Ferguson, D K; Li, C; Jiang, C; Chakraborty, A; Grasby, S E; Hubert, C R J. Science of the Total Environment vol. 722, 137258, 2020 p. 1-12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137258
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Bédard, J H; Saumur, B M; Tegner, C; Troll, V R; Deegan, F R; Evenchick, C A; Grasby, S E; Dewing, K. Journal of Petrology vol. 62, issue 9, egab041, 2021 p. 1-39, https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egab041
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Bédard, J H; Troll, V R; Deegan, F M; Tegner, C; Saumur, B M; Evenchick, C A; Grasby, S E; Dewing, K. Journal of Petrology vol. 62, issue 9, egab042, 2021 p. 1-31, https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egab042
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Smith, I R; Evans, D J A; Gosse, J C; Galloway, J M. Program and abstracts, 50th Annual International Arctic Workshop; by Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research; 2021 p. 128-131
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Nguyen, A V; Galloway, J M; Poulton, T P; Dutchak, A. Bulletin of Canadian Petroleum Geology vol. 68, no. 3, 2021 p. 65-90, https://doi.org/10.35767/gscpgbull.68.3.65
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Bujak, J; Fensome, R; Mangerud, G; Williams, G. Atlantic Geology vol. 57, 2021 p. 1-5, https://doi.org/10.4138/atlgeol.2021.001
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McMartin, I; Godbout, P -M; Campbell, J E; Tremblay, T; Behnia, P. Geological Survey of Canada, Scientific Presentation 121, 2021, 1 sheet, https://doi.org/10.4095/327853
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Powell, J W; Schneider, D A. Tectonics vol. 41, issue 9, 2022 p. 1-22, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021TC007065
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Lau, G E; Trivedi, C B; Grasby, S E; Spear, J R; Cosmidis, J; Templeton, A S. Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences 2022 p. 1-21, https://doi.org/10.3389/fspas.2022.825019
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Galloway, J M; Fensome, R A; Swindles, G T; Hadlari, T; Schröder-Adams, C; Herrle, J O; Fath, J; Pugh, A. Cretaceous Research vol. 129, 105022, 2022 p. 1-26, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2021.105022
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Re-release; Hadlari, T. Sedimentary basins of northern Canada: contributions to a 1000 Ma geological journey and insight on resource potential; by Lavoie, D (ed.); Dewing, K (ed.); Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 609, 2022 p. 215-235, https://doi.org/10.4095/326088
<a href="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_326088.jpg"><img src="https://geoscan.nrcan.gc.ca/images/geoscan/gid_326088.jpg" title="Sedimentary basins of northern Canada: contributions to a 1000 Ma geological journey and insight on resource potential; by Lavoie, D (ed.); Dewing, K (ed.); Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 609, 2022 p. 215-235, https://doi.org/10.4095/326088" height="150" border="1" /></a>

Re-release; Dewing, K; Hadlari, T. Sedimentary basins of northern Canada: contributions to a 1000 Ma geological journey and insight on resource potential; by Lavoie, D (ed.); Dewing, K (ed.); Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 609, 2022 p. 23-35, https://doi.org/10.4095/326085
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There's competition along the Antarctic radio dial. Yes, McMurdo alone now boasts three FM stations, and the nearby New Zealand base has yet another...

In 1971 I had the privilege of being deployed to the Antarctic for one year and three days. The following are excerpts from my diary in regards to my involvement with the WASA radio station at McMurdo...

George Clarke will staff the most southerly post office in the world, living among a penguin colony.

No Comment : l'Antarctica Ice Ultra ou la course de l'extrême 

In many cases, temporary websites may be simple, accessible solutions for knowledge management and dissemination of information. However, such sites may become outdated as the funding ends, but yet in many cases, still publicly available through the Internet. The issue of website sustainability is a relevant topic for all organizations that have websites. Website lifecycle, knowledge management, and website sustainability issues are discussed through a theoretical-based literature review. These issues are then summarized and used as lessons learned for the case study approach of this paper. The aim is to identify a solution to address a website’s life and longevity, post project. A practical case study assessment of the issue of project website sustainability is needed to address the website’s longevity—post project—as creation is often made through temporary endeavors. Recommendations for future project websites are made as the outcomes and results of this study and are expressed in the form of suggested practices for project website sustainability in future projects.

Huge data encompassed into a unique georeferenced macrobenthic assemblages database

A new peer-reviewed data paper offers a comprehensive, open-access collection of georeferenced biological information about the Antarctic macrobenthic communities. The term macrobenthic refers to the visible-for-the-eye organisms that live near or on the sea bottom such as echinoderms, sponges, ascidians, crustaceans. The paper will help in coordinating biodiversity research and conservation activities on species living near the ocean bottom of the Antarctic.
The data paper "Antarctic macrobenthic communities: A compilation of circumpolar information", published in the open access journal Nature Conservation, describes data from approximately 90 different expeditions in the region since 1956 that have now been made openly available under a CC-By license. The paper provides unique georeferenced biological basic information for the planning of future coordinated research activities, for example those under the umbrella of the biology program Antarctic Thresholds – Ecosystem Resilience and Adaptation (AnT-ERA) of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). The information collected could be also beneficial for current conservation priorities such as the planning of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
The expeditions were organised by several famous explorers of the Antarctic. The area covered by the paper consists of almost the entire Southern Ocean, including sites covered by a single ice-shelf. The vast majority of information is from shelf areas around the continent at water depth shallower than 800m. The information from the different sources is then attributed to the classified macrobenthic assemblages. The results are made publicly available via the "Antarctic Biodiversity Facility" (data.biodiversity.aq).
A specific feature of this paper is that the manuscript was automatically generated from the Integrated Publishing Toolkit of the Antarctic Node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (AntaBIF IPT) and then submitted to the journal Nature Conservation through a novel workflow developed by GBIF and Pensoft Publishers. (see previous press release). Data are made freely available through the AntaBIF IPT, and sea-bed images of 214 localities through the data repository for geoscience and environmental data, PANGAEA- Data Publisher for Earth and Environmental Science (sample: http://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.198682).

An innovative workflow reveals new research potential of the Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD). A recently published article in the Biodiversity Data Journal (BDJ) used specimen records downloaded from BOLD in tabular format and imported these into a human-readable text developed in manuscript within the Pensoft Writting Tool (PWT). Data were used to study the species distributions of ten Nearctic species of braconid wasps from the Microgastrinae subfamily.

BOLD is originally designed to support the generation and application of DNA barcode data. However, the repository also holds unexplored treasures of additional data that provide unique potential for many other research uses.

Currently almost 4 million sequences (over 3.4 million of them DNA barcodes) are stored in BOLD, including coverage for more than 143K animal species, 53K plant species, and 16K fungi and other species, and this impressive storage of information is continuing to grow every day.

A team of researchers, led by Dr Jose Fernandez-Triana from the University of Guelph, Canada, have now explored how the unique amount of data stored on the BOLD platform can be utilised for new research purposes. Choosing tiny parasitic wasps for their case study they selected a sample of 630 specimens and 10 North American species. Data stored on BOLD were then used to uncover a significant number of new records of locality, provinces, territories and states.

The research was then secured a fast publication via BDJ, a community peer-reviewed, open-access, comprehensive online platform, designed to accelerate publishing, dissemination and sharing of biodiversity-related data of any kind.

"Import of structured data into human-readable text is important but it does not represent the whole story. More importantly, the data can be downloaded straight from the article text by anyone for further re-use, or be automatically exported to data aggregators, such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). In this way, data platforms could get more peer-reviewed content from scholarly publications and scientists will be properly credited for their efforts" said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, founder of Pensoft Publishers.

Original Source:

Fernandez-Triana J, Penev L, Ratnasingham S, Smith M, Sones J, Telfer A, deWaard J, Hebert P (2014) Streamlining the use of BOLD specimen data to record species distributions: a case study with ten Nearctic species of Microgastrinae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Biodiversity Data Journal 2: e4153. doi: 10.3897/BDJ.2.e4153

Additional information:

The workflow is part of the Data Publishing Toolkit elaborated within the EU FP7 funded project EU BON (Grant agreement No 308454).

by Courtney Vaughn

The Mercury provides news and fun every single day—but your help is essential. If you believe Portland benefits from smart, local journalism and arts coverage, please consider making a small monthly contribution, because without you, there is no us. Thanks for your support!

Good morning, Portland! Take a deep breath. Hold for six seconds. Exhale. 

We might be treated to some fleeting morning sunshine, but for the most part, expect more rain with a high of 54 degrees and a low of 50. 

Let's catch up on what's happening in our city and around the world.

In Local News: 

• Important fox update! The young arctic white fox spotted in Portland a few weeks ago is now in the care of the Bird Alliance of Oregon. Last Friday, the Bird Alliance posted an update, noting the fox was likely illegally kept in captivity in Oregon. And while the fox sniffed out and found several mice hidden for her around her enclosure, it’s unlikely she’d survive in the wilderness. The organization reports the fox is in good health and they’re looking for a permanent home for her with a wildlife agency.

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• The body of a missing hiker was found in Mt. Hood National Forest last Friday. Police say 33-year-old James Robert MacDonald was found by search and rescue crews after his family reported he didn’t return from a hike Wednesday, Nov. 6. KATU reports MacDonald had four children, including 1-year-old twins, and was finishing a radiology residency at OHSU.

This is the second major search conducted for a missing hiker in Mt. Hood National Forest in less than two weeks. Last Tuesday, the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office found a missing mushroom hunter in densely forested terrain as he exited the Eagle Creek Trail. He was found “cold and wet” but otherwise in good health.

• Dozens of Portlanders and local organizations have signed on to a letter urging the Portland City Council to postpone a vote on a contract that would funnel more money into the Portland Metro Chamber. This Wednesday, City Council is likely to approve the expansion of one of the city’s Enhanced Service Districts, Downtown Clean & Safe. The expansion also accompanies a $58 million contract renewal for Clean & Safe. Enhanced Service Districts are special districts where property owners pay a tax to fund extra security services and cleanups around the district. If it were any other organization or even any other ESD, few would bat an eye at the contract renewal, but Downtown Clean & Safe is essentially operated by the Portland Metro Chamber (formerly the Portland Business Alliance). The city funnels millions of district tax dollars into this no-bid contract, to give ESD ratepayers–most of which are downtown businesses–an added layer of private security, as well as trash and graffiti removal. While plenty of folks are supportive of the extra services, quite a few Portlanders, including condo owners in the district, say the contract arrangement is barely ethical, and serves primarily to funnel taxpayer money into the Metro Chamber, which is one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the city. There are few, if any, checks and balances on the contract. Aside from ethical concerns, condo owners in the Downtown Clean & Safe ESD say they are being charged for services they already pay for through their Homeowners Associations and city taxes. 

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A post shared by Tom Toro (@tbtoro)

• Oregon has repeatedly failed to protect or keep data about the kids in its foster care system who wind up being sex trafficked. If you have an Oregonian subscription, this heartbreaking story is worth a read. The series shines a light on a disjointed foster care system in Oregon that failed to protect more than two dozen foster care children from being sold for sex or "anything of value," including one woman, who's now 21 but ran away with men multiple times and was forced to perform sex acts when she was 16. Multiple teens in foster care are at risk of being sold into prostitution, but for years, the state has been slow to respond and/or failed to identify those at risk, despite federal requirements to keep data on the high-risk teens in state custody.

• It’s World Vegan Month, and Veganizer is partnering with local restaurants to offer fun menu items with a portion of the proceeds from those items going toward local nonprofits. Pssst…going vegan is a great excuse to skip Thanksgiving dinner with any family members you don’t like, or those you’re just not ready to stomach after the election.

• And if you need other things to distract yourself or just need a reason to get out of the house, check the Everout weekly rundown for the best in dining, live music, film, and miscellaneous outings. Looking for a show tonight? Consider watching Salami Rose Joe Louis deliver an experimental fusion of electro-jazz rock (if that's not a thing, it is now) at the Jack London Revue.

In National/World News:

• Yesterday was Veterans Day, and perhaps the most notable event of the day was the posthumous military rank awarded to Civil War-era activist and abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Tubman escaped slavery and went on to help rescue an estimated 70 other people from slavery via the Underground Railroad. Aside from her activism and liberation of others, she's also regarded as the first woman to lead an armed combat regimen for the Union during the Civil War. In 1863, Tubman led 150 African American Union soldiers in a raid that ultimately rescued an estimated 700 slaves. For her efforts, Tubman was named a one-star brigadier general in the Maryland National Guard.

•In a move that feels like the Trump agenda is already setting in, the Intercept lays out a bill scheduled to be voted on next week with bipartisan support that would essentially allow the government to revoke tax exemption from any nonprofit organizations it deems to have a connection to terrorism or support terrorism. HR 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, would give the US Treasury secretary the power to notify any organization that its tax-exempt status will be revoked. The nonprofit will have 90 days to appeal. The ACLU is sounding the alarm, noting a bill of that magnitude would only serve to chill free speech and other activities of orgs that don’t align with Trump’s political allies or agenda. The fact that this bill was introduced is a likely indicator that members of Congress and US government officials already have a few nonprofits in mind. 

I want to be absolutely clear. Having reviewed the text of the law, it is, quite possibly, the most unconstitutional bill I have ever encountered during my time as a legal professional. It makes the Patriot Act look like an appropriations bill. It’s the modern equivalent of the Sedition Act of 1798.

— ????️‍⚧️ June Licinio ✡️ (@jwlicinio.bsky.social) November 11, 2024 at 2:15 PM

• With just over three months left in President Biden's term, chatter among Democratic senators suggests US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor should step down so Biden can make a SCOTUS appointment before he leaves office. Sotomayor, 70, hasn't indicated her intention to retire from the court, but with a current Democratic majority in the Senate, some say the time is now for her to step aside and allow for another justice to be appointed by a Democrat president. At least one senator is pushing back on that suggestion. On a recent episode of Meet the Press, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont told NBC's Kristen Welker he doesn't think it's a good idea. Dems are trying to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2020, when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg ignored calls for her to step down, then died while still serving. Trump was president, and replaced Ginsberg—often revered as a feminist icon—with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

• US transportation safety officials are investigating whether certain models of Hondas and Acuras are prone to engine failure. The AP reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into rod bearing failures that can cause the engines on several makes and models to fail. Honda last year issued a recall to fix the engine problem, but the NHTSA says nearly 175 complaints from vehicle owners who experienced the same engine failure issues, but whose vehicles weren’t included in Honda’s 2023 recall. The issue covers the Honda Pilot and Acura MDX (2016-2020 model years); the Honda Odyssey and Acura TLX (2018 through 2020), and the Honda Ridgeline (2017-2019).

@livviathepig

the gift that keeps on giving

♬ original sound - liv

In October 2024, Russia announced plans to significantly increase year-round shipping through the Northern Sea Route (NSR), aiming a boost in cargo volume to over 200 million tons annually by 2030 — a critical step in transforming the Arctic into a global trade corridor. With 2023's cargo volume already reaching 36.254 million tons, despite a slight dip this year so far mainly due to delays in launching major raw material projects like Arctic LNG 2, the route continues to demonstrate its growing role in Russia's trade and energy strategy. The Northern Sea Route, stretching across Russia's Arctic coastline, has long been eyed as a potential alternative to the Suez Canal for connecting Europe and Asia. With shorter transit times — promising to reduce the distance between Asia and Europe by 10 to 14 days compared to the Suez Canal route — and bypassing congested chokepoints, the NSR offers the promise of a more direct, efficient maritime route between the two continents. This October's decision is only the latest in a series of strategic moves by Russia to establish the NSR as a primary passage for international sea-based trade, catalyzed by Russia's growing ties with both China and India, who are actively seeking reliable access to the Arctic. Amid escalating tensions, particularly the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, which has the potential to severely disrupt sea trade along the Suez Canal, the NSR's strategic importance becomes even more pronounced.

American University's School of Communication (SOC) announced today that seasoned student journalist Gabe Castro-Root was selected to join an expedition to Antarctica where he will be reporting on the expedition.

A new study from USGS describes a previously unknown process of marine mineral formation in the Arctic Ocean, driven by frictional heating along tectonic faults rather than by hydrothermal activity. 

Full Text:

A new study shows that the West Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing some of the most rapid climate change on Earth, featuring dramatic increases in temperatures, retreats in glaciers and declines in sea ice. The Southern Ocean absorbs nearly half of the carbon dioxide -- the key greenhouse gas linked to climate change -- that is absorbed by all the world's oceans. The study tapped an unprecedented 25 years of oceanographic measurements in the Southern Ocean and highlights the need for more monitoring in the region. The research revealed that carbon dioxide absorption by surface waters off the West Antarctic Peninsula is linked to the stability of the upper ocean, along with the amount and type of algae present. A stable upper ocean provides algae with ideal growing conditions. During photosynthesis, algae remove carbon dioxide from the surface ocean, which in turn draws carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. From 1993 to 2017, changes in sea ice dynamics off the West Antarctic Peninsula stabilized the upper ocean, resulting in greater algal concentrations and a shift in the mix of algal species. That's led to a nearly five-fold increase in carbon dioxide absorption during the summertime. The research also found a strong north-south difference in the trend of carbon dioxide absorption. The southern portion of the peninsula, which to date has been less impacted by climate change, experienced the most dramatic increase in carbon dioxide absorption, demonstrating the poleward progression of climate change in the region.

Image credit: Drew Spacht/The Ohio State University

The U.S. lacks icebreaking capability in the Arctic and Antarctic and should build four polar icebreakers with heavy icebreaking capability to help minimize the life-cycle costs of icebreaker acquisition and operations, says a new congressionally mandated letter report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Joint statements from the national science academies of the G7 nations were released today in advance of the G7 Summit to be held in La Malbaie, Canada, on June 8 and 9, 2018.

Only about 4 million people live in the Arctic, but despite its relatively small population, the region is hugely consequential.

traveled a long way back home

To tie in with this month’s SoNYC birthday celebrations, we are hosting a collection of case

Ariel Waldman is a filmmaker and Antarctic explorer who first appeared in our 2021 episode, "Through the Looking Glass." Since then, she has written a new book and returned to Antarctica with a new mission. For this bonus episode, producer Matthew Cloutier reached out to get an update.

This bonus episode was previously shared only with our TED Radio Hour+ supporters. To get access to all of our bonus content, listen to the show sponsor-free and support our work at NPR, sign up for TED Radio Hour+ at plus.npr.org/ted

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University of Toronto among extensive list of global collaboratorsTORONTO, ON – International high-energy physics research project IceCube has been named the 2013 Breakthrough of the Year by British magazine Physics World. The Antarctic observatory has been selected for making the first observation of cosmic neutrinos, but also for overcoming the many challenges of creating and […]

Ice, my friends, is anything but basic.  It does strange and unexpected things, foiling even modelers. This week's #AntarcticLog reviews an essential principle or two. 

The post #AntarcticLog: Ice is cool appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

So you've always wanted to be an iceberg, to travel the world, bestowing fresh water and, just in general, being awesome? Here's how: 

The post #AntarcticLog: Being Berg  appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

Coral keeps on doing the unexpected -- as in this week's two stories from vastly different coral ecosystems. 

The post #AntarcticLog: Branching Out  appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

It's on! What's on? The Iditarod -- 98 years after the history-making dog sled run, the dogs are off again, and that means it's on. 

The post #AntarcticLog: To the dogs appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

#AntarcticLog is a series of comics by Karen Romano Young, intended to educate and inspire through sciart. You can find the originals here. Since the National Science Foundation sent me to Antarctica, I’ve written and drawn #AntarcticLog comics about once a week.  The very first shows why I started it — and why I keep going.  People often assume that because there are pictures — comics — that #AntarcticLog is …

The post #AntarcticLog: Two Hundred Fifty  appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

I've never been to Greenland or the North Pole—but one of my guilty pleasures is investigating how I'd get there if I went. This week's #AntarcticLog is a product of this kind of woolgathering. 

The post #AntarcticLog: On the trail to science appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.

The poles make the difference in the size of certain animals.  Here the colossal squid speaks about why it’s so, well, colossal!

The post #AntarcticLog: Something in the water appeared first on The Plainspoken Scientist.