Not only does the break-up of ice pose a threat to the SP-40 station, it could also cause environmental pollution in the area, Russian Natural Resources Minister Sergey Donskoy said in a statement on Thursday.Currently there are 16 scientists working at the Russian station, which “has no chance of surviving through this summer,” according to the head of Russia’s high-latitude Arctic expeditions Vladimir Sokolov.“The station’s ice floe is cleaved and it was decided to dismantle the station to prevent an emergency situation,” Sokolov told RIA, adding that currently there is no threat to personnel.The Yamal nuclear-powered icebreaker is scheduled to leave for the drifting polar station on May 31, and it will take the ship about 10 days to reach SP-40, he explained.The early evacuation comes some three months before the October-launched station was due to finish its work, which included hundreds of ocean plumbing probes, and thousands of temperature and weather observations. It also comes at a time when it is getting increasingly hard to find a suitable ice floe for an Arctic station on the landless North Pole.Over the last 35 years Arctic ice coverage has declined by nearly 50 per cent because of climate change, satellite tracking images have revealed. In 2012, the melting of ice proceeded at the highest rates ever observed, the UN has said.Russia opened its first North Pole station SP-1 in 1937, and has since undertaken numerous polar rescue missions and early evacuations. The previous research station, SP-39, was moved to another ice floe in 2012, also due the breaking of ice, and in 2010 SP-37 had to be evacuated by a nuclear-powered icebreaker. By the time the researchers of SP-35 were rescued in July 2008, the ice floe they were drifting on had diminished from a 15 square kilometer block to a piece just 300 meters across. … Read More
Mount Everest brawl exposes mountaineering’s deep rifts
A brawl on Mount Everest last weekend that shocked the mountaineering community stems from tension between elite climbers and growing commercial expeditions on the world’s highest peak, experts say. Italy’s Simone Moro and Ueli Steck of Switzerland, two of the world’s top…
‘World’s greatest living explorer’ sets off for world’s first Antarctic winter crossing
Adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes said his bid for the world’s first Antarctic winter crossing, with no option of rescue, would be a trip into the unknown despite his multiple record expeditions. Known as the world’s greatest living explorer, Fiennes will depart Monday for the coldest…
Videos: Rare Glimpses of Amazing Birds-of-Paradise Courtship Rituals
An eight-year project to capture photos and video of the 39 species of birds of paradise has delivered an amazing collection of these crazy-looking birds’ plumage courtship rituals. The project involved more than 200 flights, 18 expeditions and thousands of hours spent hiding in blinds as high as 50 meters above ground. Here … … Read More
November Dining In San Francisco: Five Highlights Not To Miss (PHOTOS)
Every month, HuffPost SF joins our friends at Tasting Table to highlight our five favorite discoveries from our scouting expeditions around the Bay Area’s culinary scene. Here’s what caught Tasting Table San Francisco editor Jonathan Kauffman’s eye this past month. Read More…
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Myth Busting: There is No Evidence That Obama Won Due to ‘Widespread Voter Fraud’
Why isn’t the FBI or the Justice Department investigating the “widespread voter fraud” that a number of Rightwingers are claiming enabled Barack Obama to win the 2012 election?
The simplest answer is that there is nothing to investigate — at least no evidence to suggests as much at this time. Lacking such evidence, such fishing expeditions [...] … Read More
