Peering Under The Ice Of Collapsing Polar Coast

Starting this month, a giant NASA DC-8 aircraft loaded with geophysical instruments and scientists will buzz at low level over the coasts of West Antarctica, where ice sheets are collapsing at a pace far beyond what scientists expected a few years ago.

The flights, dubbed Operation Ice Bridge, are an effort by NASA in cooperation with university researchers to image what is happening on, and under, the ice, in order to estimate future sea-level rises that might result.

Since 2003, laser measurements of ice surfaces from NASA’s ICESat satellite have shown that vast ice masses in Greenland and West Antarctica are thinning and flowing quickly seaward. Last month, a report in the journal Nature based on the satellite’s measurements showed that some parts of the Antarctic area to be surveyed have been sinking 9 meters (27) feet a year; in 2002, one great glacial ice shelf jutting from land over the ocean on the Antarctic Peninsula simply disintegrated and floated away within days. NASA’s satellite reaches the end of its life this year, and another will not go up until 2015; in the interim, Operation Ice Bridge flights will continue and expand upon the satellite mission.

In addition to lasers, the plane will carry penetrating radars to measure snow cover and the thickness of ice to bedrock, and a gravity-measuring system run by Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory that will, for the first time, plot the geometry and depth of ocean waters under the ice shelves. The gravity study is seen as key because many scientists believe warm ocean currents may be the main force pulling the ice sheets seaward, melting the undersides of ice shelves and thus removing the buttresses that hold back the far greater masses of ice on land.

“What our colleagues see from modeling of these glaciers is that warm ocean water is providing the thermal energy to melt the ice,” said Lamont geophysicist Michael Studinger, a co-leader of the gravity team who will be on some of the flights. “To really understand how the glaciers are going to behave, we need the firsthand measurements of water shape and depth.” Earlier this year, an icebreaker cruise co-led by another Lamont scientist, Stan Jacobs, sent an automated submarine to look under the region’s Pine Island Glacier(right), which has been moving forward rapidly in recent years. Its bed, where the ice contacts rock, is below sea level, and scientists are concerned about what would happen if a sudden large movement were to introduce seawater underneath. The plane flights, over some six weeks starting Oct. 15, are aimed at providing a wider-scale picture of Pine Island and other targets.

For each of some 17 flights, the 157-foot DC-8–too big for runways on Antarctic bases–will make an 11-hour round trip from Punta Arenas, Chile, with two-thirds of each trip spent getting to Antarctica. There, the plane will fly survey lines as low as 1,000 feet, some of them along sinuous glacial valleys that may test the nerves of both pilots and scientists. Some flights will investigate the region’s open sea ice, which also seems to be in decline. The campaign will cost about $7 million.

“We learned how fast the ice sheets are changing from NASA satellites,” said Lamont geophysicist Robin Bell, who is helping lead the project. “These flights are a unique opportunity to see through the ice, and address the question of why the ice sheets are changing.”

“A remarkable change is happening on Earth, truly one of the biggest changes in environmental conditions since the end of the ice age,” said Tom Wagner, cryosphere program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington. “It’s not an easy thing to observe, let alone predict what might happen next. Studies like this one are key.”

Investigators from the University of Washington and University of Kansas will run their own suites of instruments.

Source:
Reuters, “Peering Under The Ice Of Collapsing Polar Coast“, accessed October 9, 2009

UN mission in Haiti to hold memorial service for 11 peacekeepers killed in crash

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti will hold a memorial ceremony tomorrow in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to honour the 11 military officers killed when a plane crashed last Friday into a mountainside in the southeast of the country.

UN mission in Haiti to hold memorial service for 11 peacekeepers killed in plane crash

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti will hold a memorial ceremony tomorrow in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to honour the 11 military officers killed when a plane crashed last Friday into a mountainside in the southeast of the country.

Gorilla protection should be a part of Copenhagen climate talks - UN official

A United Nations conservation expert has called for the protection of gorillas and elephants to be included in global climate negotiations in Copenhagen in December as a major factor in sustaining healthy African forests, a central element in temperature control.

Migiro lauds extensive partnership between UN and European Union

Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today highlighted the vital partnership between the United Nations and the European Union (EU) in helping to improve the lives of millions of people around the world, particularly through their support to countries emerging from crises.

Somalia: UN envoy sets goal of August 2011 for professional security force

A professional, well-organized security force must be established in Somalia by August 2011, the end of the mandate of the current Transitional Federal Government (TFG), if peace and stability are to be assured, the top United Nations envoy for the strife-torn country said today.

Guinea ‘Facing New Dictatorship’, Says ECOWAS

Guinea ‘facing new dictatorship’

Guinea is in danger of slipping into dictatorship, the leader of West Africa’s economic group, Ecowas, says.

Mohamed Ibn Chambas said the junta, who seized power late last year, was repressing the people with “arbitrary and irresponsible” use of state power.

Ecowas ministers are meeting in Nigeria to try to resolve the crisis in Guinea, sparked when soldiers opened fire on an opposition rally two weeks ago.

Guineans are holding a two-day strike to remember dozens who were killed.

Activists say 157 people were killed by troops, and rights groups have reported that soldiers raped women in the streets.

The government put the number of dead at 57 and said most had died in a stampede.

The AP news agency reports that Agriculture Minister Abdulrahmane Sano has resigned in protest over the killings.

Strident language

The country’s military rulers were widely criticised over the shootings - with the US denouncing “vile abuses” perpetrated against their own people.

Critics of the military are hoping that the strike, combined with the Ecowas talks, will increase pressure on junta leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara to resign.

Ecowas is hosting talks in Abuja where opposition leaders, members of Guinea’s military and Ecowas foreign ministers met to try to resolve the crisis.

Opening the meeting, Mr Chambas told delegates Guinea was “characterised by arbitrary and irresponsible use of state power by the military to repress the population”.

“The signs are there now that if the military junta has its way it will impose yet another dictatorship on them,” the AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

Analysts say it is unusual for Ecowas to use such strident language.

The bloc suspended Guinea after last December’s coup, when the military took power shortly after the death of long-term leader Lansana Conte.

The protests two weeks ago were sparked by persistent rumours that Capt Camara intends to stand for president in an election scheduled for next January - something he had previously ruled out.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/8303726.stm
Published: 2009/10/12 17:59:46 GMT

North Korea Fires Missiles Over ‘No Sail Zone’

N Korea Fires Missiles Over ‘No Sail’ Zone

3:24pm UK, Monday October 12, 2009

North Korea has fired five short-range missiles off its east coast and declared a ‘no sail’ zone in the area until October 20, South Korean reports have said.

Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said Pyongyang had warned fishing boats to stay clear of parts of its coast - suggesting more possible launches.

The missiles, the first fired in about three months, came as the North said it is ready to return to international talks on its controversial nuclear programme.

It was not clear whether the latest launches were routine military exercises.

But they coincided with reports that America is planning to send its aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the South Korean port of Busan on Tuesday.

The reclusive North has hundreds of short-range range missiles.

They have the ability to strike the South Korean capital Seoul and its sprawling urban surroundings, which are home to about 25 million people.

A nuclear test in May and a spate of missile tests around the same time triggered a tightening of sanctions against Pyongyang.

Analysts have said the North’s desperate economic problems are partly behind its recent attempts to get on better terms with the outside world.

A UN resolution bans North Korea from launching ballistic missiles.

But there are no international agreements that bar it from test-launching short-range missiles.

Iraq: UN official expresses concern about status of election laws

The senior United Nations envoy in Iraq has voiced concern about the country’s election laws, saying they lack clarity just three months before parliamentary polls are slated to be held.

don’t get too comfortable

Chris Bryant has today been appointed Europe Minister, replacing Baroness Glenys Kinnock who spent a whole four months warming the seat for him. Bryant will be the 12th person to occupy this position in as many years - so much for continuity. With the endless staff switchovers in this portfolio the Government is starting to resemble one of those struggling football clubs that for one reason or another can’t seem to hold on to a manager for more than a few months at a time.

Clearly, having an elected member of the House of Commons like Chris Bryant on the Europe job is far preferable to locking it away in the House of Lords where the Opposition can’t have a proper pop at it and voters have no chance of holding it to account.

But this new appointment is by no means a net improvement on the current situation. Just to underline his seeming disregard for ‘Europe’ as an issue Gordon Brown has said that Bryant will remain a parliamentary under-secretary of state - the lowest ministerial rank in the government - meaning that the job, which was formerly held by a minister of state, has been downgraded. A Downing Street spokesman described the reshuffle as “housekeeping”.

Once again this government shows just how out of touch it has became. Brown might not think Europe is important but the British public do - a YouGov poll from earlier this year showed that UK voters think that if a Conservative government is elected its second top priority should be to “Reduce the powers of the European Union and increase the powers of Britain’s Parliament.”

In contrast, over on the other side of the benches Mark Francois, Bryant’s shadow, sits in the Shadow Cabinet. Speaking at our fringe event at the party’s conference last week, Francois welcomed the idea that the Minister for Europe should be a full Cabinet Minister, noting that under Labour, the role of Europe Minister had seemed to be “to tour the country, selling the EU to the British people”, rather than to fight the UK’s interests in Brussels.

Indeed the new appointment looks like a (fairly smart) political move from Brown, rather than one based on any long-term policy considerations. Replacing Kinnock in the Lords with Bryant in the Commons will give Brown a voice with which to attack the Tories over Europe and their new partners in the European Parliament - their favourite new topic. Judging by David Miliband’s article in the Observer at the weekend the latter is set to be a major feature of Labour’s campaign. Indeed Bryant has already written a similar article for a regional paper.

Bryant himself is a passionate EU advocate and will be an interesting addition to the debate - something which can’t be said of many of his recent predecessors in this role (Flint, Murphy…)

But what does he actually stand for?

You won’t get any clues from his website. The ‘Policy’ section is completely blank, having received far less attention than the ‘photo gallery’ where we get to see Bryant in his red speedos.

However, rarlier this year he told the Western Mail that, “I think the European Union has gone down some cul-de-sacs. The Common Agricultural Policy I would still like to see radically reformed, and we’ve got a bit obsessed with how many members of the Commission we each have.”

We’ve heard lots about reforming the CAP from this government before and with very little to show for it, as we’ve argued before.

Bryant is in favour of maintaining the current system of EU regional spending, saying that “The question is whether repatriating large amounts of structural funds would open the door to a vast expansion of inappropriate state aid in the eastern bloc…we want to maintain a structural funds system that brings money not only to the poorest countries but to some of the richest countries.”
This is worrying given the amount of money that is wasted funding dubious projects in some of the EU’s richest countries. See here for just one example.

However, he has had some good ideas. For example he said that he is in favour of a specific parliamentary question time for EU matters, which would increase accountability and public awareness of EU decision-making. Thumbs up from us.

He has also called for the European Scrutiny Committee, which sifts through over a 1,000 EU documents a year, to meet in a more open and transparent way. And Bryant does seem to recognise the important role the EU plays in governing the UK, saying: “I do think that how we do the scrutiny of European business is absolutely essential to how we scrutinise the Government.”

The question is whether he will able to take a breath from electioneering and attacking the Conservatives, or be around long enough to move beyond his recent predecessors and make any lasting mark in the job.