On the global warming news front, the newest and perhaps most disturbing report of the year comes from Canada, where an Arctic park has been closed after record warm temperatures caused flash flooding.

The park, ironically, is named Auyuittuq, which means "The Land That Never Melts" in Inuit. It is located in Nunavut, a newly created territory (1999) in Canada whose land area derives from the former Northwest Territories. Nunavut (see map below) is in the northern part of Canada above Manitoba in the area of Hudson's Bay.

The park, located on Baffin Island near the northernmost end of Hudson's Bay - and separated from Greenland only by Baffin Bay - warmed so precipitously in June that by late July hiking trails had turned to mud and more than 20 park visitors had to be evacuated by helicopter. The unprecedented warming also caused a moraine at Crater Lake to erode, threatening the Akshayuk Pass with flash flooding. This pass is the entrance point to the park for most visitors, and represents a corridor the Inuit have used for thousands of years to access ancestral fishing grounds in Baffin Bay.

The park covers more than 7,000 square miles of rocky scree with a magnificent view of the polar ice floating in Baffin Bay. It's most significant feature is the Penny Ice Cap, which covers the northeastern portion of the park. The park is popular with skiers, hikers and climbers, but this year, melting permafrost, erosion and climactic stability mean the hikers will have to find other trails.

Park officials say they haven't seen this kind of warming since the park was first opened, over 40 years ago, and confirm that almost 60 miles of the park trail have vanished under melting permafrost, which has created instability in the ground itself and formed large, treacherous-looking cracks and sinkholes in the park's southern section.

Similar events occurred in Pangnirtung south of the park, where June rains caused flash flooding in the Duval River, eroding bridges, shutting down essential services like electricity and telephone and stranding residents.   

Park officials have said they plan to reopen the park after a geological inspection to verify its safety. No one is willing to commit to a date, however, and one official, who linked the melting to climate change (which has led to more rapid warming in Arctic regions than elsewhere) feels that the park may never again be safe for tourism.

In July, Canadian officials also reported that two large chunks, measuring roughly 7 square miles in total, broke away from the Canadian ice shelf on Ward Hunt Island, northwest of Baffin Island. It is reportedly the largest breakup in three years, and scientists speculate accelerated Arctic warming may be responsible here, as well. These ice shelves have lost 90% of their area since the 1900's, and now seem to be experiencing accelerated losses after a relatively stable period ending in 2000.

The 2050 Project, which tracks the demise of Planet Earth, reports that data from the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that 2008 began with more ice cover in the Arctic than the previous year. In spite of that, this summer has seen record sea-ice losses and scientists speculate that much of the Arctic may be ice-free within five to 10 years.

Countries around the Arctic Ocean are, in fact, counting on just that premise to begin the hunt for natural gas and oil. Geologists and others speculate the Arctic may contain as much as a fifth of the world's reserves of these energy sources. According to some, this vast landmass and its icy oceans contain 90 billion barrels of oil, enough to fuel the world for three years, and 1,670 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, or about one-third of the world's known natural gas reserves.

Nations involved include the U.S., Russia, Greenland, Canada and Norway, and many are a hair-trigger away from war to protect what they consider their fair share of the wealth. Canada, upset by Danish claims to the North Pole, recently conducted military exercises over its northern territories to strengthen its claim, and the province of Ottawa is sending naval personnel and vessels to the area as I write this.

Denmark, the first to stake claim to part of the area, asserts that it is protecting the interests of Greenland, a small satellite country living in fear of being overrun by an oil rush. Russia, using the Mir-1 and Mir-2 submarines, planted its flag on the seabed at the magnetic North Pole in 2007, and has become increasingly hostile on the subject of oil since.

The U.S., the last to stake a claim, will be the first to start drilling in Alaska - a ploy the current administration describes as freeing the nation from foreign oil. In fact, oil - whatever its source - is sold on the world market, and Alaskan oil will not markedly benefit the U.S.

British scientists, with no axe to grind, have created the first detailed map (pdf) of the area, which shows areas likely to be in dispute as the war over Arctic oil and gas escalates. The recent conflict in Georgia is just another facet of this conflict, with Russia attempting to control the flow of oil and the U.S. attempting to dominate Russia.

The fact that the Arctic is melting, making its reserves available for the first time in human history, merely exacerbates the problem of warming. This feedback loop, leading to destruction of the Arctic, more fossil fuel consumption, and a slowdown in development of alternative energies, will further intensify the warming and perhaps plunge the earth into a situation where no amount of emissions reduction will save it. In spite of that, not one world leader has stepped forward to prevent it.

Further Reading:

• Polar Explorer Raises the World's First Solar Sail
• Working Out Who Might Claim the Arctic
• Sinking Beneath the Waves