News from the polar regions during December 2008 included studies of methane and its role in climate change, new information about the role of polar bears and snowy owls in the Arctic ecosystem, trouble for the Wilkins Ice Shelf and an Antarctic cruise ship, and an astonishing fact about Antarctica’s biological diversity. Missed these stories the first time? Read on!

Methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, is thought to be an important factor in global climate change. Two new reports this month point to the growing understanding of methane in the global ecosystem.

Scientists monitoring methane emissions from the tundra in northeast Greenland have discovered that much more of the greenhouse gas is being emitted into the atmosphere than previously believed. In addition, the researchers have found that the onset of freezing during autumn forces large amounts of methane out of the tundra. Scientists previously thought that the tundra emitted most of methane gas into the atmosphere during the warmer summer months.

Methane emissions are happening underwater as well. A separate study found that the summertime levels of dissolved methane in the surface water from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf were the highest ever measured. The increase is attributed to thawing of permafrost beneath the Arctic Ocean.

An interdisciplinary study has “strongly linked” Arctic sea ice decline to changes in land temperatures and greening of the tundra. As the Arctic warms, increased vegetation will affect permafrost, snow patterns, hydrological cycles, and wildlife. Also significant are climate feedbacks through changes in Earth’s albedo and carbon balance.

In the discussion of climate change, scientists often refer to the effects on the atmosphere and oceans. But the soil may also be impacted by a warming world. New findings suggest that warming temperatures may speed up the rate at which carbon is released into the atmosphere from soil’s organic matter. Over time, that increased process would diminish the carbon pool and actually alter soil’s molecular composition. This could change soil fertility and enhance erosion, as well as accelerate warming due to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Greenland’s glaciers are losing ice quickly, and 2008 was no exception. The amount of ice lost this past summer was more than three times what was lost just one year ago. More is to come. According to Jason Box, a researcher with Ohio State’s Byrd Polar Research Center, says that “we now know that the climate doesn’t have to warm any more for Greenland to continue losing ice…but that doesn’t mean that Greenland’s ice will all disappear. It’s likely that it will probably adjust to a new ‘equilibrium’ but before it reaches the equilibrium, it will shed a lot more ice.”  

Loss of ice from Greenland and Antarctica is the major reason for sea level rise between 2003 and 2008, according to a new study. Satellite and buoy data showed that unlike past decades, the expansion of warming ocean water only contributed 0.4 mm/year out of a 2.5 mm/year total increase. In past decades, more than half of sea level rise was attributed to thermal expansion of sea water.

As we previously reported, the warming Arctic spells trouble for polar bears that depend on the sea ice for hunting and breeding. New calculations show that the changes in timing of sea ice breakup and snow goose nesting might provide a new food source: snow goose eggs. Polar bears have been observed eating duck and goose eggs in the Hudson Bay area as well as in Svalbard, Norway.

Are snowy owls part of the marine ecosystem? In wildlife satellite studies, the top Arctic bird predators have been observed to spend a great deal of time far out on the sea ice during the winter. Scientists hypothesize that they may have been preying on seabirds. Biologists are curious to know if Inuit seal hunters have ever encountered the birds on the ice as well.

A convoy of bulldozers and trucks has departed from a remote airport in Siberia, traveling to a frozen lake 62 miles north of the Arctic Circle. The convoy is delivering core-drilling equipment that will allow scientists to retrieve core samples more than 3 million years old and answer questions about Earth’s ancient climate. This area was never covered by ice sheets or glaciers, meaning that it has a continuous sediment record unlike anywhere else in the world. Scientists plan to begin drilling in February of 2009.

In Antarctica, new rifts have developed on the Wilkins Ice Shelf that may lead to disintegration of the ice bridge that connects the shelf to the Antarctic Peninsula. Breakup of the bridge has been a steady occurrence during 2008, with major events in February, May, and June.

While the polar regions (and particularly Antarctica) have been long considered to be poor in biodiversity, a new ‘inventory’ of marine and land animals around a group of Antarctic islands show that the area has more species than the Galapagos. Part of the Census of Marine Life, the study will provide a benchmark for monitoring the impacts of climate change on biodiversity.

As ice melts on the Antarctic continent, parts of the continental bedrock are responding by rising. Other parts are sinking. These findings come from data obtained from GPS sensors on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, part of the POLENET project. POLENET is a collaborative project run by the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University and several other partners. In addition to scientific data, the project provides educational resources as part of the International Polar Year.

A cruise ship ran aground along the Antarctic Peninsula in early December. Though the ship was freed by Chilean tug boat, some fuel was spilled. A similar ship sank one year ago. These incidents have raised questions about the growing polar tourism movement, its safety, and its ecological impact.

As we previously reported, the world’s largest neutrino telescope is being constructed below the ice of Antarctica. The IceCube is a series of strings of optical detectors frozen more than a mile deep in the Antarctic ice. Surface detectors will measure cascades of particles generated by high-energy cosmic rays, while the detectors in the ice will monitor particles that pass through the planet from below. Scientists will be able to reconstruct the path of the particle and determine its origin, such as an exploding star or a black hole. The IceCube is set for completion in 2011.

Know of another significant news story from December that you’d like to share? Reactions to one of the stories discussed here?  Post a comment-we’d love to hear from you!