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Kara Seas News

31 Aug 2016

Arctic Sea Ice Melt Continues

Average sea surface temperature measured by satellites using thermal emission sensors, which produce global data adjusted after comparison with ship and buoy data, and sea ice concentration derived from NSIDC near-real-time data for August 7, 2016. Also shown are drifting buoy temperatures at the ocean surface (colored circles); gray circles indicate that temperature data from the buoys are not available. (Credit: M. Steele, Polar Science Center/University of Washington)

As of August 14, Arctic sea ice extent is tracking third lowest in the satellite record, according to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC). The southern route through the Northwest Passage appears to be largely free of ice. Despite a rather diffuse ice cover in the Chukchi Sea, it is unlikely that Arctic sea ice extent this September will fall below the record minimum set in 2012. As of August 14, Arctic sea ice extent was 5.61 million square kilometers, the third lowest extent in the satellite record for this date and slightly below the two standard deviation range.

31 Jul 2016

Arctic Sea Ice Melt at Higher Level

Sea ice is decreasing in the Arctic but year-to-year variability in sea ice extent is large. Ice extent is influenced by atmospheric circulation, with temperatures dictating ice melt, and winds shifting the ice, reports the Nature. According to National Snow and Ice Data Center, through the first half of July, Arctic sea ice extent continued tracking close to levels in 2012, the summer that ended with the lowest September extent in the satellite record. The stormy weather pattern that characterized June has persisted into July. Nevertheless, sea ice melt began earlier than average over most of the Arctic Ocean. As of July 18, Arctic sea ice extent was 7.82 million square kilometers (3.02 million square miles).

08 Apr 2016

Arctic Sea Ice at Alrmingly Lower Level

Low Arctic sea ice extent for March caps a highly unusual winter in the Arctic, says the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC). In March, Arctic sea ice extent fell to its second lowest extent since 1981 — as did the overall Arctic sea ice extent for 2106. The decline of Arctic sea ice is already setting records in 2016, with the winter peak in March clocking in as the lowest since satellite records began, scientists say. Low Arctic sea ice extent for March caps a highly unusual winter in the Arctic, characterized by persistent warmth in the atmosphere that helped to limit ice growth. Above-average influx of ocean heat from the Atlantic and southerly winds helped to keep ice extent especially low in the Barents and Kara seas.

13 Oct 2015

Billions of Juvenile Fish under Arctic Ice

Using a new net, marine biologists from the Alfred Wegener Institute have, for the first time, been able to catch polar cod directly beneath the Arctic sea ice with a trawl, allowing them to determine their large-scale distribution and origin. This information is of fundamental importance, as polar cod are a major source of food for seals, whales and seabirds in the Arctic. The study, which was recently published in the journal Polar Biology, shows that only juvenile fish are found under the ice, a habitat the researchers fear could disappear as a result of climate change. Beluga whales, narwhals, ringed seals and numerous Arctic seabirds have one thing in common: their preferred food is polar cod, Boreogadus saida.

01 May 2015

Gazprom Building up Resource Base

In 2014 Gazprom Group (excluding Gazprom Neft) performed exploratory drilling of above 125,000 m of rocks, constructed 32 prospecting and exploratory (7 and 25 accordingly) wells. Over six thousand linear kilometers of 2D seismic profiles were processed, 3D seismic survey covered in excess of 11 thousand square kilometers. In the Russian Federation, prospecting drilling was performed across an area of more than 112 thousand meters of rocks. 30 prospecting and exploratory (24 exploratory and 6 prospecting) wells were constructed. Above six thousand linear kilometers of 2D seismic profiles were processed, 3D seismic survey covered the area of above 11 thousand square kilometers.

22 Aug 2013

NSR Traffic May Increase 8-Fold by 2020

The Deputy Head of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Viktor Olersky, accompanied by the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, Koji Sekimizu, on an inspection visit at the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route, told RiaNovosti that traffic on the Northern Sea Route may increase more than 8 times by 2020, reaching 30 million tonnes a year. Citing Olersky, Ria Novosti report that today there is active development of the shelves of the Barents and Kara Seas with dozens of oil platforms each supplied by two or three vessels. The port of Sabetta under construction, according to preliminary estimates of the deputy head of the ministry, will take 220 ship calls each year.

23 May 2013

GAC Pushes Further into the Arctic with Polar Logistics Group

From left: Sebastian Rasmussen (Logistics & Projects Manager), Henrik P. Lassen (VP Operations) and Jan Almqvist (MD) of POLOG with Ahmet Ă–zsoy, Managing Director of GAC Norway

GAC Norway AS and Polar Logistics Group ApS (POLOG) formed a strategic partnership to further strengthen GAC's network within the Arctic Circle. The move is the latest stage in the company's Arctic strategy to better serve the region by bringing together organizations and individuals to create a unified network of expertise, experience and local resources. By combining GAC's shipping, logistics and marine expertise with POLOG's network throughout Greenland and ability to meet remote location logistical needs from ice runways to mountaintop camps…

12 Oct 2012

Russia Plans to Raise Sunken Nuclear Submarines

November-class Russian Submarine: Photo credit The Bellona Foundation CCL

The two submarines need to be raised & scrapped so as to avoid radiation pollution & are located in the northern Barents and Kara Seas. The ministry will announce an international tender, which may include companies from the France, the Netherlands, South Korea and United States, as the Russian Navy does not have the necessary equipment to carry out deep-sea salvage operations, the official Russian news agency, Izvestia informs RiaNovosti. The B-159 (K-159), a November class nuclear submarine…

03 Sep 2012

New Arctic Oil Terminal Planned in Finnmark

Norterminal AS plans to build a large oil-terminal outside Kirkenes in the Norwegian, Russian borderland. New fields in the Arctic Barents and Kara Seas bring along needs for reloading and storage terminals. The players in the market are now looking towards the sheltered waters along the coast of Finnmark. Kirkenes can become the gateway to all the new Arctic shipping lanes that opens as the sea-ice melts away and new icebreaking tankers are designed, reports the Barents Observer. “We believe Gamneset is the best location in Sør-Varanger,” Jacob B. Stolt-Nielsen told the BarentsObserver. Gamneset is located near Kirkenes main airport in a fjord that shelters a possible new harbor and terminal facilities from the open and rough Barents Sea. Russian waters are just a few hours away.

20 Aug 2012

Indian Oil Seeks Arctic Drilling Team-up

Photo credit Rosneft

Indian oil intends to team up with Russia's Rosneft for oil exploration in the Barents & Kara Seas. ONGC, one of the largest oil and gas companies in Asia, has formally addressed Rosneft with a partnership offer in one of the latter’s Arctic hydrocarbon projects. In a letter, the ONGC says it would like to team up with Rosneft in one of its international partnerships recently concluded in the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea. The Indian company primarily wants the Russian state company to reduce its 67 percent stake in the projects with respectively ExxonMobil…

22 Jun 2012

Arctic Sea Ice at Record Low Level

After a period of rapid ice loss through the first half of June, sea ice extent is now slightly below 2010 levels, the previous record low at this time of year. Sea level pressure patterns have been favorable for the retreat of sea ice for much of the past month. On June 18, the five-day average sea ice extent was 10.62 million square kilometers (4.10 million square miles). This was 31,000 square kilometers (12,000 square miles) below the same day in 2010, the record low for the day and 824,000 square kilometers (318,000 square miles) below the same day in 2007, the year of record low September extent. The main contributors to the unusually rapid ice loss to this point in June are the disappearance of most of the winter sea ice in the Bering Sea…

20 Apr 2010

Cathelco Protects Floating Nuclear Power Plant

Photo courtesy Cathelco Ltd, Marine House

A prototype for a series of Russian floating nuclear power stations will be protected against hull corrosion with a Cathelco impressed current cathodic protection system (ICCP). Designed to provide nuclear power in remote regions of the Arctic, the hull of the floating power plant is being constructed at the Baltiysky Zavod yard in St Petersburg. It will then be installed with two nuclear reactors providing up to 70 megawatts of electricity – enough to serve a city with a population of 200,000.

25 Jun 2009

Joint Leadership Meeting, Russian Shipbuilders

Led by Alexander Ananenkov, Deputy Chairman of Gazprom Management Committee, the company’s delegation continues its business trip to Saint Petersburg. The delegation is composed of Oleg Aksyutin, Member of the Management Committee – Head of the Gas Transportation, Underground Storage and Utilization Department, Yaroslav Golko, Member of the Management Committee – Head of the Investment and Construction Department, Vasily Podyuk, Member of the Management Committee – Head of the Gas, Gas Condensate and Oil Production Department, as well as heads and specialists from Gazprom specialized subdivisions and subsidiary companies – Gazprom VNIIGAZ…