Researchers Predict Gradual, Prolonged Release of Greenhouse Gases From Thawing Permafrost. There's qualified good news about one contributor to climate change, say researchers who have crunched data from a series of recent studies. Organic carbon trapped in permafrost soils of arctic and subarctic regions risk being released as greenhouse gases to the atmosphere once these soils thaw and start to decompose. However, evidence suggests that the release will be gradual rather than abrupt, spanning decades to centuries as opposed to a single decade. Phys.Org

Growing Polar-Bear Taste for Land Food Worries Scientists. For polar bears, whose scientific name means 'maritime bear', the prospect of having to search for food on land would seem to be a recipe for disaster. But while that is increasingly the case for the species in parts of Norway and Canada, as a pair of recent papers suggests, the reason, and the impact, is less clear. It has long been known that during summer months, polar bears will supplement their diet, primarily seal caught on sea ice, with food they can find on land, including berries, mushrooms, eggs and carrion. The two papers, released earlier this month, express concern that foraging appears to be making up a larger portion of the polar-bear diet, and that this may signal of an ecosystem that is out of balance. Arctic Journal

The Arctic Is 'Unraveling' Due to Global Warming, and the Consequences Will Be Global. We often hear that climate change is radically reshaping the Arctic, a place many of us have never visited. As a result, it can be pretty hard to feel directly affected by what's happening up in a distant land of polar bears, ice floes and something odd called permafrost. A new booklet from the  National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council wants to change that. Synthesizing much past academy work on the Arctic region, the booklet - being released just before the United States assumes the chairmanship of the eight-nation Arctic Council later this month - blazons this message: "What Happens in the Arctic Doesn't Stay in the Arctic." The Washington Post

NATO Secretary General Talks Defense in Iceland. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg came on his first official visit to Iceland since taking office yesterday. In a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, he said he welcomes the recent announcement of increased defense cooperation between the Nordic countries in response to the growing military presence of Russia in the Arctic region. Russia has called the agreement "confrontational." "I think it's good because it's a way of pulling resources and getting more out of the investments we all make in defense. It increases our ability to have a strong military presence in the Nordic countries. So more exercising together, closer cooperation; it's important to Iceland and it's important to all the other Nordic countries," Stoltenberg commented. Iceland Review

New US Arctic Vessel Shipshape, Scientists Report. Seaman Sikuliaq reporting for duty, Captain. The low rumbling of the engine of the RV Sikuliaq was music to ocean scientists' ears last week during a 23-day cruise to test how the newest addition to the U.S. oceanographic fleet handled icy seas. Starting from Dutch Harbor on the Aleutian island of Amaknak in Alaska, the ship ventured north into so-called ten-tenths sea ice-the name shiphands give to a sea ice coating that stretches to the horizon. The 80-meter-long Sikuliaq is not an icebreaker, but its hardened hull is rated to move through sea ice as thick as 0.8 m. And it "crunched" smoothly through ice it encountered during various trial procedures, reports chief scientist Carin Ashjian, a biological oceanographer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts. (The ship moved easily through 0.5 m-thick solid ice, but was stopped by stacked "rafting" ice that was 1.5 m thick. For images of the ship in action, see 1:53 in the video below.) Science Magazine

[Opinion] Alaska Needs to Play Strong Role as US Takes Arctic Council Lead. In its National Strategy for the Arctic Region, the U.S. government identifies the state of Alaska as one of two key partners. Further, President Barack Obama's more recent executive order establishes a coordinating body within the federal government to liaise with Arctic partners, and fundamentally with the state. Partnership has yet to be defined, however, and with the U.S. chairmanship of the Arctic Council, it is all the more crucial. The extent to which federal and state interests in the Arctic align will determine the success of this chairmanship, and possibly of those to come. These next two years depend on the social license, support from and active engagement of the region. Alaska community, business and political leaders, as well as its subject matter experts and traditional knowledge holders, bring to the work of the Arctic Council meaningful, realistic and helpful input that are key aspects of partnership. Alaska Dispatch News