Today's Events 

The House and Senate are in recess until Monday, April 16. 

Media 

Sparrow Migration Tracked for First Time from California to Alaska. Using tiny tags to track a bird's location, biologists from PRBO Conservation Science (PRBO) have unlocked the mystery of where Golden-crowned Sparrows, which overwinter in California, go to breed in the spring. Published this week in the journal PLoS ONE, the study reveals for the first time the exact migration route of this small songbird to its breeding sites in coastal Alaska. Science Daily 

Small Icebergs Can be the Real Killers: The Titanic's sinking in the Atlantic showed the need for an international patrol. A century after the "unsinkable" RMS Titanic hit an iceberg, researchers are still trying to devise foolproof ways to detect and track hundreds of huge, ship-threatening bergs that break away each year from west Greenland glaciers and the Canadian Arctic - to the delight of tourists and the dread of offshore oil firms, ship captains and maritime authorities. The international effort to protect transatlantic marine traffic from the icy menace that routinely skirts Newfoundland's and Labrador's coasts en route to the open ocean began with the loss of the Titanic on April 15, 1912. The sinking prompted the signing of the 1914 Safety of Life at Sea convention and the creation of the International Ice Patrol. Vancouver Sun

Russia Taking on Northern Sea Route as Bellona Raises Alarm Over Norwegian Vessels Under Escort of Nuclear Icebreakers. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti earlier this month hosted a roundtable discussion on developing the Arctic Northern Sea Route, the possibilities of exploiting cargo transport through it, the future of the Russian nuclear icebreaker fleet, and legislation needed to effect these plans. Bellona

Canada, Denmark May Split Tiny Arctic Island. Hans Island may look like nothing more than a big, vacant rock in Arctic waters, but for decades it's been a political thorn in the side of both the Canadian and Danish governments. That thorn soon could be removed. Ownership of the barren, 1.3 square kilometer piece of land - located in Nares Strait, between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Greenland, which falls under the Danish Crown - has been hotly contested since the current maritime borders were drawn up in 1973. Boundaries of the surrounding waters and seabeds are clear, but each country continues to claim the land mass as their own. Calgary Herald

Coast Guard Academy Kicks Off Arctic Conference. The Coast Guard Academy is kicking off a two-day conference focused on challenges posed by climate change in the Arctic. The Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Robert J. Papp Jr. is among the panelists expected in New London for the conference beginning Thursday. Warming temperatures have opened new waterways during summer months through the Northwest Passage above Canada and Russia. The conference will focus on issues raised by the growing number of boats plying once-frozen seas for oil exploration, shipping and tourism. Newsday

Warming Seas Open Arctic Frontier for Coast Guard. As rising temperatures melt Arctic ice caps, the U.S. Coast Guard is ramping up for deployments in northern seas that are emerging as a new maritime frontier. The guard's largest-ever Arctic deployment, planned for this summer, is designed partly to answer questions over how it will perform off Alaska's north coast. How will cutters navigate without reliable charts mapping the sea bottom? How will communications be affected by the lack of on-shore infrastructure? Do service members have the right training for the climate? The Associated Press

Governor: Alaska Could Help US Build Icebreakers. Gov. Sean Parnell says the state might be interested in helping finance a new icebreaker so the U.S. can make up lost ground in the race for Arctic dominance. That's the gist of the governor's response to a lengthy letter from Rep. Don Young offering ideas on how Alaska can help the cash-strapped federal government put costly new icebreakers off Alaska's increasingly busy northern coasts. With the nation's icebreaking fleet reduced to a single working ship -- its two large icebreakers are undergoing repairs or being decommissioned -- the state and U.S. government should consider sharing costs to make new icebreakers a reality, Young suggested in a Feb. 7 letter to Parnell. New or refurbished icebreakers will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Alaska Dispatch

Arctic Offshore Spill Preparation Lacking. [Opinion] On March 24, 1989, in the dead of Alaska night, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil into the frigid Alaska water. The spill was the largest in U.S. history at the time, and its remote location, accessible only by helicopter and boat, made clean-up efforts all the more difficult and complicated.Having worked on oil pollution research in Alaska for over a decade prior to the spill, I was there a week later as the spill contaminated approximately 1,300 miles of shoreline, collecting water samples beneath the oil slick. The widespread devastation to wildlife, and later to the livelihoods of those I met who depended on fishing and subsistence food-gathering, are not the kinds of memories anyone wants. Anchorage Daily News

WGP to Study Extent of Russian Arctic OCS for SMG. WGP Exploration Ltd. has signed a turn-key contract with State Sevmorgeo Co. to study the Mendeleyev Ridge offshore Russian arctic. The seismic data is aimed at supporting Russia's proposal to the UN Commission on the Law of the Sea about the limits of the continental shelf. The project, scheduled this summer, will use WGP's Portable Modular Source System. The contract includes conversion and installation of the geophysical equipment, and mobilization aboard the icebreaker Dikson. Offshore Magazine

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