The Arctic
Consisting of deep ocean covered by drifting pack ice and surrounded by continents and archipelagos around the Earth's North Pole, the Arctic is the planet's largest and least fragmented inhabited region.
Why the Arctic matters
Our changing relationship with polar bears
Climate change is pushing polar bears into cities in search of food.
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Stories
Forecasting the future of Arctic conservation
Dr. Sommerkorn is among the organizers of WWF’s new Arctic Conservation Forecast Initiative that aims to answer this paralyzing Arctic conservation conundrum. The project, which wrapped up its first virtual expert workshop in January, hopes to finally give conservationists a better idea about what to expect when climate change transforms Arctic nature and what they can and must do now to protect it into the future.
Published 31 March 2021
NEWS
Noise pollution from Arctic shipping more than doubled in six years putting whales and other marine life at risk
A new report shows that the amount of underwater noise in parts of the Arctic Ocean has doubled in just six years because of increased shipping traffic. The report was released by the Arctic Council and is the first time scientists have mapped noise pollution from shipping across the region. The results are staggering considering it took oceans in other parts of the world between 30 and 40 years to reach that magnitude of increase.
Published 26 May 2021
From The Circle
Playing the long game
Polar bears evolved from a brown, terrestrial omnivore to become a white, marine carnivore that has long thrived in the Arctic’s icy environment. But as Andrew Derocher explains, given the pace of change in the Arctic, evolution doesn’t favour this highly specialized bear of the ice.