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Posts Tagged ‘Finland’

2011: Headed for Record Arctic Melt?

July 21, 2011 Comments off

ouramazingplanet

arctic-sea-ice-satellite-110720.jpgJuly 11, 2011: Arctic sea ice, seen by satellite. Credit: NASA.

This year could be well on its way toward earning a dubious spot in the record books.

Arctic sea ice has melted away with astonishing speed in the first half of July, at an average rate of about 46,000 square miles (120,000 square kilometers) per day, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colo.

That’s equivalent to an area roughly the size of Pennsylvania melting into the sea every 24 hours.

“That’s relatively fast,” said Julienne Stroeve, a research scientist at the NSIDC.

Already, sea ice extent — how far ice extends across the ocean — this year is below the extent for the same time in 2007, a year which, in September, saw the lowest sea ice coverage ever recorded.

As of July 17 this year, sea ice covered 2.92 million square miles (7.56 million square kilometers) of the frigid Arctic Ocean. That may sound like a lot, but it’s 865,000 square miles (2.24 million square kilometers) below the 1979 to 2000 average.

However, Stroeve said, much of what Read more…

Categories: Arctic sea, Earth changes Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

‘Ice Wars’ heating up the Arctic

July 17, 2011 Comments off

cnn

Click to play
Scrambling for a piece of the Arctic pie

Editor’s note: CNN correspondent Kaj Larsen recently visited the Arctic to observe the U.S. naval exercise known as ICEX. His experience is part of the CNN documentary “Ice Wars,” which will air at 8 p.m. ET Sunday on CNN Presents.

(CNN) — On a small, floating piece of ice in the Beaufort Sea, several hundred miles north of Alaska, a group of scientists are documenting what some dub an “Arctic meltdown.”

According to climate scientists, the warming of the region is shrinking the polar ice cap at an alarming rate, reducing the permafrost layer and wreaking havoc on polar bears, arctic foxes and other indigenous wildlife in the region.

What is bad for the animals, though, has been good for commerce.

The recession of the sea ice and the reduction in permafrost — combined with advances in technology — have allowed access to oil, mineral and natural gas deposits that were previously trapped in the ice.

The abundance of these valuable resources and the opportunity to exploit them has created a Read more…

Categories: Arctic sea Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

European Union growing more divided

June 26, 2011 1 comment

freep.com

IN GREECE: About 3,000 police officers, coast guard workers and firefighters protest salary and budget cuts on Thursday in Athens. Austerity measures in Greece have fueled disenchantment with the European Union.

 IN GREECE: About 3,000 police officers, coast guard workers and firefighters protest salary and budget cuts on Thursday in Athens. Austerity measures in Greece have fueled disenchantment with the European Union. / DIMITRI MESSINIS/Associated Press

FLENSBURG, Germany — Erik Holm Jensen slips between countries without a thought or a passport.

The 60-year-old business consultant drives from Denmark into northern Germany as smoothly as an American going from Delaware to New Jersey. There’s no hassle at the border, no guards to stop him. If he blinks, he misses the modest sign indicating he’s crossed from one country into another.

Such seamless travel is one of the European Union’s greatest achievements in its pursuit of a stable, prosperous continent built in the lingering aftermath of World War II. The other is the euro, like the wad in Jensen’s wallet that he can use in 17 nations.

But the twin pillars of Europe’s grand project are now Read more…

Categories: EU Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Other Nations Outclass U.S. on Education

January 30, 2011 1 comment

In every town in America, the back-to-school rush is on, reports CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod.

In Croton, N.Y., the Arturo brothers are already cracking the books.

“I feel we get our money’s worth in Croton,” said the boys’ mother. “Especially for three kids.”

The public schools have done right by the Arturos, but that’s not the case across the board, says education consultant Mark Schneider.

“Our top students are just not world class anymore,” Schneider told CBS News.

And he’s right. Of 30 comparable countries, the United States ranks near the bottom. Take math – Finland is first, followed by South Korea, and the United States is number 25. Same story in science: Finland, number one again. The United States? Number 21.

Problem Solving

Where does the United States outrank Finland? On the amount spent per student: just over $129,000 from K through 12. The other countries average $95,000. Read more…

Categories: America, education, Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,