Record highs, rainfall and beaver damage in Arctic, US study shows
The Arctic continues to deteriorate from global warming, not setting as many records this year as in the past, but still changing so rapidly that federal scientists call it alarming in their annual Arctic report card.
The 16th straight health check for the northern polar region spotlighted the first rainfall at Greenl a n d s u mmit s t a t i o n , record warm t emperatures between October and December 2020, and the new problem of expansion of beavers in the Arctic.
“The trends are consistent, alarming and undeniable,” U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief Rick Spinrad said presenting the findings by 111 scientists from 12 countries at the American Geophysical Union conference Tuesday. “The loss of the great white cap that once covered the top of the world is one of the most iconic indicators of climate change.”
Added Spinrad: “We have a narrow window of time to avoid very costly, deadly and irreversible future climate impacts.”
The 2020- 2021 polar year — scientists study the Arctic on a yearly basis from October to September — was only the 7th warmest on record. However, October to December in 2020 set a record for the warmest autumn.
This report card comes out as the Arctic warms two to three times faster than the rest of the planet. The region’s melting ice opens the door to more pressures, including the potential for more oil and gas drilling and more mining and more tensions between countries wanting to exploit the area.
For the people who live there, it means having to adapt to a ground that is getting softer as permafrost melts and forces changes to traditional hunting and fishing
Hours before the report card release, the World Meteorological Organization announced that it confirmed a new record warm temperature set for the Arctic in June 2020 in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk. Temperature in that Siberian town hit 100.4 degrees.
US- Asia relations: The United States will expand its military and economic relationships with partners in Asia to push back against China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo- Pacific, U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday in Indonesia.
Blinken said the Biden administration is committed to maintaining peace and prosperity in the region and will do that by boosting U. S. alliances, forging new relationships and ensuring that the U. S. military maintains “its competitive edge.”
Later Blinken signed a series of three agreements with Indonesia’s foreign minister, including one that extends until 2026 an existing maritime cooperation pact that among other issues calls for enhanced joint U. S.- Indonesian naval exercises.
Navy ship fire: A key witness in the Navy’s case against a j unior sailor accused of setting the fire that destroyed a U. S. warship last year testified Tuesday that he is certain that he saw the suspect in the area where the flames ignited, but acknowledged changing the account he initially told investigators.
Pe t t y Of f i c e r Ke n j i Velasco blamed his nervousness for the changes to his
Members of the Spanish Army story and said in military court during a preliminary hearing that he was now “100 percent” sure that he saw the suspect, Apprentice Ryan Sawyer Mays, descend to the ship’s lower vehicle storage area on the day of the fire.
Investigators have said cardboard boxes in the storage area were ignited, starting the blaze that burned for nearly five days on the USS Bonhomme Richard in July 2020, injuring dozens of personnel aboard. The amphibious assault ship was so badly damaged that it had to be scuttled.
Mays has denied igniting the fire, insisting he was on the ship’s hangar bay when the fire started.
Mays is charged with aggravated arson and the willful hazarding of a vessel. The hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence for a military trial.
Bel ar us cra ckdown: A court in Belarus on Tuesday sentenced the husband of the country’s opposition leader to 18 years in prison, six months after the trial began behind closed doors. The charges against Siarhei Tsikhanouski included organizing mass unrest and inciting hatred and have been widely seen as politically motivated.
Five other opposition activists were sentenced to prison terms of 14 to 16 years. Tsikhanouski, 43, a popular video blogger and activist, planned to challenge authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election.
He was widely known for the anti- Lukashenko slogan “Stop the cockroach.” He was arrested in May 2020, two days after he declared his candidacy.
Hi s wi f e, Sv i a t l a n a Tsikhanouskaya, ran i n his stead, drawing tens of thousands of people to rally in her support during t he campaign. Official results of the vote handed Lukashenko a landslide victory and a sixth term in office, but were denounced by opposition and the West as a sham.
Mich. school shooting: A judge on Tuesday granted a prosecutor more time to collect and share additional evidence against the parents of a boy charged with killing four students at Oxford High School, partly to give the Michigan community “time to heal.”
Ja mes a nd Je nni f e r Crumbley are charged with involuntary manslaughter. They’re accused of giving 15- year- old Ethan Crumbley access to a gun and failing to intervene when they were confronted with his disturbing drawings hours before the Nov. 30 shooting.
The teenager is separately charged as an adult with murder and other crimes.
Judge Julie Nicholson granted a request by prosecutors and defense lawyers to postpone until Feb. 8 a key hearing that will determine whether the elder Crumbleys will face a trial.
Cuomo book: Fo r me r Gov. Andrew Cuomo was ordered by New York’s ethics commission Tuesday to give up millions of dollars a publisher paid him to write a book about his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
An attorney immediately called the action unconstitutional and promised a fight.
Cuomo was directed to turn over proceeds earned from “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID- 19 Pandemic” within 30 days under a resolution approved 12- 1 by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics, according to multiple media reports.
The order came a month a f t e r t h e c o mmissi o n voted to rescind the ethics approval it had given Cuomo as he entered into the $ 5.1 million book deal.
“American Crisis” was published in October 2020. Cuomo resigned in August amid findings he sexually harassed 11 women.