Glaciers Cracking in the Presence of Carbon Dioxide. The well-documented presence of excessive levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in our atmosphere is causing global temperatures to rise and glaciers and ice caps to melt. Science Daily

Murkowski Pushes Alaskan, Arctic Priorities in Coast Guard Bill. As the House of Representatives and the Senate consider competing versions of the Coast Guard Authorization Act, Senator Lisa Murkowski is attempting to make sure Alaska's needs are met. In a letter to the leaders of the relevant House and Senate committees, Senator Murkowski highlighted a number of key sections that she didn't want to see left on the negotiating room floor, writing "these provisions are supported by a number of my constituents, who depend on the maritime industry and coordination with the Coast Guard." Alaska Native News

Arctic Summer Wind Shift Could Affect Sea Ice Loss and US/European Weather. Changes in summer Arctic wind patterns contribute not only to an unprecedented loss of Arctic sea ice, but could also bring about shifts in North American and European weather, according to a new NOAA-led study published today in Geophysical Research Letters. A research team led by James Overland, Ph.D., of NOAA's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle, Wash., examined the wind patterns in the subarctic in the early summer between 2007 and 2012 as compared to the average for 1981 to 2010. They discovered that the previously normal west-to-east flowing upper-level winds have been replaced by a more north-south undulating, or wave-like pattern. This new wind pattern transports warmer air into the Arctic and pushes Arctic air farther south, and may influence the likelihood of persistent weather conditions in the mid-latitudes. The Maritime Executive

The Future of Arctic Shipping. Arctic sea ice is melting rapidly, and within the next decade the effects of global warming may transform the Polar region from an inaccessible frozen desert into a seasonally navigable ocean. The summer of 2011 saw a record 33 ships, carrying 850,000 tons of cargo navigate the Northern Sea Route (NSR) off Russia's northern coast. This year's shipping season may see up to 1.5 million tons of cargo, as Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute predicts the NSR to be ice-free and passable for ships by early summer. The Northwest Passage, first ice-free in 2007, and the Transpolar Sea Route (TSR) may also open up to shipping traffic over the coming decades. An in-depth assessment of the viability of shipping along the TSR will be published in the upcoming Arctic Yearbook 2012, which will be available from the Northern Research Forum's website in October 2012. The development of Arctic offshore hydrocarbon resources and related economic activities will also improve the integration of the Arctic economy in global trade patterns. Multi-year ice and the limited seasonal window for trans-Arctic voyages, however, will for the foreseeable future remain formidable obstacles to the development of Arctic shipping and its economic viability. Trans-Arctic shipping routes will thus not serve as a substitute for existing shipping lanes, but will instead provide new and additional capacity for a growing transportation volume. The Arctic Institute

Coast Guard's Arctic Sea Ice Research Deploys Equipment From Airplanes. As sea ice disappears in the Arctic Ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard is teaming with scientists to explore this new frontier by deploying scientific equipment through cracks in the ice from airplanes hundreds of feet in the air. This year, the amount of sea ice that normally covers giant swaths of the Arctic Ocean fell to a record low level; this summer, the Arctic ice cap melted to 1.32 million square miles (3.41 million square kilometers), its lowest extent since measurements began in the late 1970s, according to the U.S. National Snow & Ice Data Center, which tracks sea ice using satellite data. Huffington Post