Barter Island Artifacts Temporarily Back in Alaska for Examination, Digital Preservation. A century ago, when the pioneering Canadian Arctic Expedition started to go awry, anthropologist Diamond Jenness found himself stranded for nearly a year on Alaska's North Slope. He spent the time studying the indigenous Alaska culture, excavating Barter Island and collecting thousands of artifacts. When open waters returned the next summer, he sailed back to Canada, taking with him the Barter Island artifacts, which date to the proto-Inuit culture known as Thule. Alaska Dispatch News 

Muskox Boost Arctic-Mire Carbon Uptake. "Arctic ecosystems are of vital importance for global carbon storage, and changes in these ecosystems may cause significant feedbacks to global climate," Julie Maria Falk, who carried out the study while at Lund University, Sweden, told environmentalresearchweb. "The muskox is the only large herbivore in high Arctic Greenland, and consumes large amounts of plant forage. This is likely to impact vegetation composition and productivity, and ultimately affect the carbon balance of especially wet, productive areas where the animals aggregate to forage." Falk and colleagues excluded muskox from grazing at five, 10 m2 fenced enclosures on mire in Greenland's Zackenberg valley, from 2010 to 2013. In the summer there are typically around 1-2 muskox per km2 in the area; by late summer and autumn, this has risen to around seven animals per km2. Muskox densities at Zackenberg are among the highest observed in the Arctic, Falk said, as shown by the BioBasis monitoring program. Environmental Research Web 

[Russian] Navy Sends 45,000 Tons of Goods to Arctic Bases. The first vessel loaded with foodstuff, technical equipment and various other goods this week left towards Ostrovnoy, the closed military town located on the eastern end of the Kola Peninsula. The vessel will soon be followed by a string of more ships, some of them navy vessels, other civilian, a press release from the Northern Fleet reads. Barents Observer 

Polar Knowledge Canada Merges Polar Commission With CHARS. The federal government announced the creation of a new organization merging the mandates of the Canadian Polar Commission with the Canadian High Arctic Research Station under construction in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. The announcement was made Monday. Polar Knowledge Canada will be "Canada's primary point of contact for Arctic science," according to a news release. CBC News 

North Pacific Research Board Requests Pre-proposals for an Arctic Program by July 31, 2015. NPRB is launching an Arctic Integrated Ecosystem Research Program in partnership with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the North Slope Borough/Shell Baseline Studies Program. NPRB and funding partners seek to develop a coordinated, collaborative program to fund science that will improve our understanding of the Arctic marine ecosystem. More information is on the program's website. Questions or comments about this program should be directed to Matthew Baker, Science Director (Matthew.Baker@nprb.org) or Danielle Dickson, Senior Program Manager (Danielle.Dickson@nprb.org). 

As the Arctic Opens Up, the US is Down to a Single Icebreaker. Melting ice in the Arctic is creating opportunities for access to oil and gas, and shipping lanes. But the area is still mostly frozen and navigating the inhospitable region on top of the world still requires an icebreaker, the heavy-duty ships that are able to crash through massive layers of ice. The U.S. Coast Guard is responsible for search-and-rescue missions, as well as protecting the environment and defending U.S. sovereignty. The U.S. is one of five countries with territorial claims to the land and waters of the Arctic (The others are Canada, Russia, Norway and Denmark). National Public Radio 

A Battle to Breathe. Another day of work at a small village clinic in northern Alaska was coming to a close. The final patients filed out the door as I wrapped up my clinic notes. The setting Arctic sun cast an orange glow on the snow dusting the remote village's lead gray beaches. The days were becoming rapidly shorter as winter approached, and I sat back and imagined the Arctic Ocean, just outside the clinic windows, under a sheet of ice in just a few months. Discover (Subscription required) 

Study: Using LNG Bunkers in the Arctic Could Greatly Reduce Risks Associated with HFO. The World Wild Life Fund - Canada (WWF - Canada) Monday said that a recent study, Fuel Alternatives for Arctic Shipping, suggests that switching to liquid natural gas (LNG) for Arctic shipping operations could greatly reduce the risks that are associated with using heavy fuel oil (HFO). The study, commissioned by WWF - Canada and conducted by Vard Marine Inc., comparatively assessed the environmental impacts of HFO, diesel, and LNG, as well as the ship design, fuel consumption, and the economic aspects associated with each of the three marine fuels. Ship and Bunker