Expedition Avannaa (www.avannaa.org). Three men and one woman travel 4000 km in a small open boat “the Greenlandic way” – the hard way.

Their route takes them Kullorsuaq, Savissivik, Qaannaaq, Siorapaluk and then further North through Avanersuaq – the land that is invisible to most of the people. No matter what happens with them on the way they will obey to the laws of the ancestors: wander, accept and adapt.

They observe and film rock and soil, earth and ice, water and sky, wind and currents, wildflowers and ancient lichens, polar bears and arctic butterflies, foxes and ravens, people, walruses and phytoplankton that too has to adopt to abrupt changes, often with little success.

(more…)

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.

Two pictures only, but they are definitely worth to see.

Vladimir Potapov during his snowmobile expedition to the Arctic zone of Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. Early November 2011.

Vladimir Potapov during his snowmobile expedition in the Arctic zone of Yakutia, Siberia, Russia. Early November 2011.

More about 2011 Arctic Snowmobile Expedition to Laptev Sea in Yakutia, Siberia / Russia.

(more…)

Tagged with:
 

Can you imagine? When the rest of the world is suffering the heat and the temperature much above +40C and even +50C, people of Greenland’s Uummannaq settlement are enjoying “the sight and light and smell of the salty seawater and fresh glacier air” daily.

That’s the way Hivshu Ua described the Uummannaq life among Arctic icebergs in July 2011.

Uummannaq dwellers are very lucky to have such honor… Unfortunately, it might not last forever. In 30 years, scientists predict the ice-free(!) Arctic… :(

Who is Hivshu Ua?

He is one of great men participated in the Uummannaq Music project. Be sure to visit UM’s website, facebook page and Flickr sets to learn more and see Greenland in its currently-existing glory.

Hope, you will like this and below-published photographs and say thanks with me to Hivshu Ua, their author, for letting us to see such an Arctic summer beauty online.

(more…)

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.

Tagged with:
 
Iluliaq - Iceberg in the area of Uummannaaq, Greenland. Photo by Galya Morrell.

Iluliaq - Iceberg in the area of Uummannaaq, Greenland. Photo by Galya Morrell.

Apr. 27, 2011 – The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) released the report that identifies 13 of the richest and most vulnerable places in the Arctic Ocean that should be considered for protection as summer sea ice melts and industrial activity expands into newly accessible areas.

The Bering Strait, Chukchi Beaufort Coast, Barents Sea Coast and Great Siberian Polynya are among the hotspots. Here is the full list of the 13 top priority areas featured in the report:

(more…)

Tagged with:
 

About Video #1

This is BBC One’s web exclusive Human Planet series trailer. Human Planet (http://www.bbc.co.uk/humanplanet) is an awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping, heart-stopping landmark series that marvels at mankind’s incredible relationship with nature in the world today.

About Video #2

A montage of clips from the “Ice Worlds” episode of Planet Earth, set to “Glosoli” by Sigur Ros.

These two videos might be enough for a human being to start admiring the Planet and come to understanding of how the Earth is amazing and… fragile…

Sometimes we forget where we live. It’s good to sit in the cafe and drink coffee and enjoy this special moment. It’s funny to read gossips about Charlie Sheen and other celebrities. It’s good to drive highways at high speed and get excited from your freedom…

But… what if we’ll start paying a little attention to our surroundings and thinking, how all this amazingness around us might be ruined just in a few moments? Maybe, some good things will come with it?

Ok. Let’s stop with speeches. Frankly, I am far away from environmental policy things. Just… it would be really pitty to loose such beauty one day. Do you want that? Me not. “Our planet is cool, let’s keep it that way.” (c)

If wonder, what we can do, read Moki Kokori’s message in the previous post.

Tagged with:
 

Ok. The previous video was a fun. This one is pretty serious. It appeared online on the CoolPlanet2009 Vimeo page one year ago. Not a new one, but its date publication is not essential. The problem remains the same. Environmental changes are taking ground and pretty rapidly.

About the documentary

The Deal film “Journey to the Polar Ice Rim” prepared by the United Nations staff member David Ohana documents UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s recent visit to the Arctic, where he witnessed rapid environmental changes caused by the global warming.

This video was shared by Moki Kokoris. Today we, Moki, Joel Spiegelman and I, had a short facebook chat, but with a strong message.

Joel: What can one do? What action can the world take to stop the melting?

Moki: We may not be able to stop it, but there are many actions we can take to slow down the process. However, that takes effort, it takes change, and it requires sacrifice. Even small actions add up, but the most influential task is to educate others to understand the science, and to show them by example that we must all take responsibility for our own actions instead of blaming others. With one drop of water at a time, the bucket is eventually full.

I: Joel & Moki, can I quote you on the blog?

Moki: I have no problem with you quoting me. This is part of what I do. I travel to schools to talk to kids about the polar regions, mainly about the Arctic, but I always leave them with ideas of small changes in their lifestyles they can make to be better stewards of our planet. If you would like more information, go to my website: http://90-north.com/ Click on the small postcard in the left-hand sidebar. Convincing adults to change is much harder, but when I make the children “ambassadors of the polar bear (or the penguin),” and I tell them what their responsibilities are, they take their job very seriously, and *they* are the ones who will change their parents. It’s the kids who take the message further. Educating them is the critical component.

I: To work with kids is really a great way to reach the world!

Tagged with:
 

Snowy winter holidays in Helsinki, Finland. Picture by Piero Damiani.

Snowy winter holidays in Helsinki, Finland. Picture by Piero Damiani.

On the web, especially on twitter, I see often people complaining about the cold weather and winter. In a Washington DC forum one lady asked, if there were other cold admirers, and she immediately got replies like, “Are you nuts?!”

My god, how is it possible not to love the cold? Especially when the cold weather is not extreme, mild and snowy as it is in Helsinki.

Take a look at Piero Damiani’s winter street photographs taken during this month’s holidays in Helsinki, Finland. Awesome! True wonderland to dream about!

See more snowy pictures. (more…)

Dislike citing newspapers, as I prefer the original content, but… What a nice story The Boston Globe wrote about the life in the extreme weather conditions. In the article “Cold pushes life to the extremes,” the author describes pretty good all sides of such living in the cold…

And, hey, my Siberian city of Yakutsk was mentioned in it. Take a look.

..For further perspective, consider the Siberian city of Yakutsk, where it averaged 40 below zero last week.

Inna Likhachyova, who works at Tour Service Centre in Yakutsk, 3,000 miles east of Moscow, tittered at the idea of 22 below.

“If you plan to come here, you will need a fur hat, fur boots, two pairs of pants,’’ she said. “It is not cold for us, but you might have a different idea of what cold is.’’…

The story contains the video as well. So it is really worth to read.

Tagged with:
 
Page 1 of 3123

2009 - 2011 (c) ColdUnited.com
The project is powered by AskYakutia.com & eYakutia.com