Avannaa Expedition is happening right now. It is a Greenlandic reconnaissance fact-finding boat expedition. Explorers, including Ole Jorgen Hammeken (Uummannaq Polar Institute) and Galya Morrell (Uummannaw Music Project), are boating from the Heart of the Arctic, Uummannaq, towards Siorapaluk, Etah, and further North.

On August 1st, received a message from Galya:

“We got in the storm and the boat was damaged – here is a very quick account of our trip. The weather forecast for the day was excellent, yet…. everything changed in a mili second we are fine now.”

“We are stranded on a little island – while repairing the boat.”

In the attachement, I found the following photographs. Enjoy and join brave Arctic explorers at the expedition website www.avannaa.org.

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They made it! For the fifth time!

Yesterday, April 25, 2012, the Russian teen team led by Arctic adventurers Dmitry and Matvey Shparo (Adventure Club) reached the North Pole by skiing from the Barneo drifting ice base.

I am happy about this event, as one of the North Pole skiing expedition participant is from Yakutia, precisely from the Bulunsky region located in the Polar Circle in North Yakutia, Siberia, Russia.

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Siberian villagest are the coldest places in the world now! Woo hoo!

Siberian villages are the coldest places in the world now! Woo hoo!

The only website that gives the full answer to the question, “Which places are the coldest on the Earth now?” is Ogimet.com. Check it!

Currently, the world’s coldest place is Oymyakon (also known as Ojmjakon) in East Yakutia, Siberia / Russia). It’s -46.9C now.

Other top coldest places on the Earth belong to Yakutian (Siberian) villages:

2. Segen-Kyuel’, -46.4 °C
3. Tompo, -44.4 °C
4. Batamaj, -43.7 °C
5. Ust’- Moma, -43.1 °C
6. Curapca, -43.0 °C
7. Verhojansk, -42.9 °C

Do you know what? This winter will be coldest in Yakutia (East Siberia/Russia) definitely, as such lowest temperatures are usual for this region. Cold winter weather dwells in Siberia as well as in Yakutsk, that’s becoming to be recognized as the coldest city in the world.

Children of the Arctic Festival. Photo By Galya Morrell.

Children of the Arctic Festival. Photo By Galya Morrell.

It is already a big event and a big tradition. This year The Children of the Arctic International Festival is arranged by Shparo‘s Adventure Club under the support of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for the third time. It started at the Youth Almaz Center in the town of Ruza on Aug. 20th and ended in Korelia on Sep. 02.

More than 100 children from the Arctic regions participated in the festival. They were from 11 Russian ones (Arkhangelskaia Oblast, Vologodaskaia Oblast, Moscow, Murmanskaia Oblast, Nenetzky Autonomous District, Karelia Republic, Komi Republic, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Taymyrsky Dolgano-Nenetzky Municipal District, Chukotsky autonomous district, Yamalo-Nenetzky autonomous district as well as from Greenland, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden.

The mission remains the same and, probably, won’t be changed ever, as it is the key stone of the mordern Arctic youth. It’s to unite children of the Arctic region to settle the common problems under the slogan “Our Arctic – Our Future.”

The Festival is carried out by the Organizing Committee, including prominent official authorities of Russia such as Dr. Arthur Chilingarov, Special Representative for Arctic and Antarctic Issues to the President Russian Federation, Vasily Zhukov, academician, Rector of the Russian State Social University, Dr. Dmitry Shparo, General Director of the Adventure Club.

And you know what? There was our friend Galya Morrell, co-leader of Uummannaq Music Project.

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A Russian boat RUS in Clyde River, Nunavut. Photo by CBC.ca

A Russian boat RUS in Clyde River, Nunavut. Photo by CBC.ca

Adventure enthusiasts from the Russian city of Ivanovo were reported to be the first sailers, who have crossed the Polar Circle on an air-inflated trimaran. It happened on Aug. 5th, 2011. Last Satuday, their boat called “Rus” have already made it to the Clyde River in Nunavut, Canada.

When Canadians saw their strange-looking 7.6-metre trimaran, they called it as a homemade boat “made out of bamboo, rope and duct tape.”

Here is what CBC.ca wrote:

“Absolutely fascinating. I’ve never seen the likes of it in my life,” said Constable Rolland Lavoie, who’s with the RCMP in Clyde River. “I would expect that a trip of this sort to be on a huge cruise boat, something huge, but this is something out of Gilligan’s Island, for crying out loud. Very Interesting.”

Ok. Who are these Russian sailers?

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The 2011 Uummannaq Polar Institute Summer Expedition. To the North of Greenland.

The 2011 Uummannaq Polar Institute Summer Expedition. To the North of Greenland.

Aaaaa, it’s my big honour to be one of Ole Jorgen Hammeken‘s many friends. He is the most recognizable Greenlandic man, who attracts the world’s attention to Greenland, its people and climate issues.

It were him and his wonderful wife, who run together Uummannaq Children’s Home in the settlement called Uummannaq.

It was them, who host Galya Morrell and Joel Spiegelman‘s Uummannaq Music project.

Certainly, they are those people, who share Uummannaq Polar Institute‘s vision, i.e. to conserve Greenland’s local culture and promote educational programs for young Inuit people.

UPI was founded in 2007 by Ann Andreasen and was inaugurated in 2008 by HSH the Prince Albert II of Monaco, Jean Malaurie, a distinguished French ethnographer, and by Arthur Chilingarov, polar explorer and Vice-President of the Russian Parliament.

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NPR Reports on The Thawing Arctic

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Okey, this time NPR reporters turn face to the Arctic issues. The agency sends its reporters to the far North and gets evidences of the thawing Arctic. Click here to see NPR’s dispatches.

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BattleHarbour about its video:

What an amazing sight to see! “Small” chunk of the massive Petermann Ice Island. This “berg” is approximately 3 miles long and 2.8 miles wide. Wow, that’s nearly 5 times the size of Battle Island!

Special thanks go out to Port Hope Simpson resident & crab fisherman, Eldred Burden, for capturing this magnificent ice structure. Truly breathtaking!

This part of the Berg has already passed Battle Harbour, but we are still awaiting the arrival of the larger chunk!

A massive ice island that broke off a glacier in Greenland 11 months ago has been winding its way through Arctic waters ever since. Satellites have now spotted it off the coast of Labrador, Canada, MSNBC.com reports,

The ice island was formed when a 97-square-mile chunk of ice broke off Greenland’s Petermann Glacier on Aug. 5, 2010. It was the largest iceberg to form in the Arctic in 50 years.

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ipy2012

The IPY 2012 Conference From Knowledge to Action is taking place in Montreal, Canada April 22-27, 2012 and will be one of the largest and most important scientific conferences for polar science and climate change, impacts and adaptation. The Call for Abstracts for oral and poster presentations is now open.

Conference organizers invite you to submit abstracts on the latest polar science, as well as the application of polar research findings, policy implications and how to take polar knowledge to action. The Conference program is available at www.ipy2012montreal.ca

The Call for Abstracts closes September 30, 2011.

NEW Conference Website Launched

Our new conference website is up and running and features the latest information on the development of the Conference program, as well as indepth articles and highlights of polar science news from around the world on our Conference Twitter page (@IPY2012). Please be sure to update your bookmarks to link to our new site.

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Members of the Ran herders collective after the court decision.

What a great news! Happy about the Samis!

The Swedish Supreme Court has upheld the lower courts, in a landmark decision that recognizes the rights of Sweden’s indigenous population and their reindeer herding.

The following news story was posted on Alaska Dispatch as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.

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