Timeline Arctic
Return to home
ArcticCircle: http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/HistoryCulture/
Books: http://www.vintage-books.com/Books/barctic.htm
Great Asp.: http://www.greataspirations.org/arctic_history_famous_explorers.htm
History: http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/HistoryCulture/
Oracles: http://www.civilization.ca/cmc/archeo/oracles/eskimos/12.htm
TravelVantage: http://www.travelvantage.com/arc_his.html
150Mil BC In 1999 Norwegian
scientists discovered an undersea meteor crater in the Arctic Ocean 125
miles north of Norway that dated to this time. It measured 25 miles
wide. The meteor was estimated at 1 1/4 mile wide traveling at 18,600
mph.
(SFC, 2/9/99, p.A10)
150Mil BC In 2006 researchers in Norway announced the
discovery of the remains of a short-necked plesiosaur, a prehistoric
marine reptile the size of a bus, that they believe is the first
complete skeleton ever found. The 150 million year old remains of the
33-foot ocean going predator were found on the remote Svalbard Islands
of the Arctic.
(AP, 10/5/06)
55Mil BC Arctic temperatures averaged 74 degrees.
This was part of a planet-wide warming period called the Paleocene
Eocene thermal Maximum (PETM).
(SFC, 6/1/06, p.A5)
45Mil BC A planet-wide cooling period began that led
to cycles of ice ages.
(SFC, 6/1/06, p.A5)
3.5Mil BC A brief period of global warming took place
about this time warming the Bering Strait and allowing hundreds of
species of marine life to migrate from the Pacific through the ice-free
Arctic to colonize the Atlantic.
(SSFC, 8/10/08, p.A6)
28000BC In 2001 Russian and Norwegian archeologists
reported evidence that date to about this time of humans camped at
Mamontovaya Kurya on the Usa River at the Arctic circle. A tusk was
dated at 36,600 years of age and plant remains at 30,000.
(SFC, 9/6/01, p.E2)
28000BC In 2003 Russian scientists reported evidence
of a hunting site on the Yana River, Siberia, 300 miles north of the
Arctic Circle that dated to about this time.
(SFC, 1/2/04, p.A2)
1597 Jun 20, Willem Barents, Dutch
explorer who discovered Spitsbergen & Bereneil, died. In 1995
Rayner Unwin authored “A Winter Away from Home,” an account of Barents’
Arctic voyages.
(WUD, 1994 p.120)(SSFC, 12/10/00, p.C17)(MC, 6/20/02)
1800 Apr 15, James Ross discovered
the North Magnetic pole.
(HN, 4/15/98)
1831 May 31, Captain John Ross,
English explorer, identified the magnetic north pole on the west coast
of the Boothia Peninsula, Netsilik territory.
(www.south-pole.com/p0000081.htm)
1833 Feb 17, Lt. George Back
(1796-1878) departed Liverpool, England, on the packet ship Hibernia
with 4 men to search for missing Arctic explorer Captain John Ross.
Ross had left England in 1829 to seek a Northwest Passage by way of the
Arctic Ocean.
(ON, 5/04,
p.10)(www.britannica.com/eb/article?tocId=9011650)
1833 Oct, Capt. John Ross
(1877-1856), Arctic explorer, returned to England.
(www.collectionscanada.ca/explorers/h24-1810-e.html)
1845 May 19, The HMS Erebus and
Terror sailed from England under Sir John Franklin to navigate through
the Arctic and find the elusive Northwest passage. All 133 men in the
expedition perished. By 1847 the British Admiralty had received no
reports of Franklin. [see Franklin Jun 11, 1847]
(WSJ, 2/10/95, p.A-7)(www.coolantarctica.com)
1846-1854 John Rae (b.1813), Scottish-born explorer,
helped map the western shore of Hudson’s Bay and the Arctic over this
period. He discovered the last link of the Northwest Passage. In 2002
Ken McGoogan authored “Fatal Passage,” an account of Rae’s explorations.
(WSJ, 4/19/02, p.W10)
1847 Jun 11, A written record was
found in 1859, indicating that Sir John Franklin died on this day, and
that Erebus and Terror were abandoned in April 1848. The crews' deaths
have been attributed to either scurvy or lead poisoning originating
from the solder on food tins. Both ships and the remains of most of the
129 crewmen have never been found. After commissioning three
unsuccessful search expeditions, the British Admiralty posted a reward
for anyone who could ascertain the fate of the crewmen of the HMS
Erebus and Terror, who had sailed from England in May 1845 to navigate
through the Arctic and find the elusive Northwest passage. Success was
anticipated with Franklin commanding well-equipped crews and ships, but
by 1847, the British Admiralty had received no reports of Franklin.
Subsequent expeditions found evidence of the Franklin Expedition. Three
graves dug into the permafrost were discovered in 1850 on Devon Island,
their headstones dated 1846. In 2010 Anthony Brandt authored “The Man
Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest
Passage.” The book pivoted around explorer John Franklin (1786-1847).
(HNQ, 6/11/98)(HN, 6/11/99)(ON, 11/03, p.12)(SFC,
4/9/10, p.F6)
1848 Apr, The ships Erebus and
Terror of the Franklin Expedition to the Arctic were abandoned. [see
Franklin expedition 1850]
(HNQ, 6/11/98)
1850 May, An American expedition,
organized by shipping magnate Henry Grinnell, departed to the Canadian
Arctic to search for Sir John Franklin and his 1845 Expedition. In late
August it joined with British rescue ships. They soon found 3 graves
dug into the permafrost of Beechey Island with headstones dated 1846. A
written record was found in 1859, indicating that Franklin died on June
11, 1847, and that Erebus and Terror were abandoned in April 1848. The
crews’ deaths have been attributed to either scurvy or lead poisoning
originating from the solder on food tins. Both ships and the remains of
most of the 129 crewmen have never been found.
(HNQ, 6/11/98)(ON, 6/09, p.3)
1854 The Investigator, deployed in
1850 with a 66-man crew, was abandoned after being locked in the grip
of Arctic ice for two winters. The crew, led by Captain Robert John
LeMesurier McClure, left behind a cache of equipment and provisions on
the shore of what is now part of Aulavik National Park. The British
ship was sent to search for two lost vessels that were part of Sir John
Franklin's ill-fated 1845 Royal Navy expedition to discover the
Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic to the Pacific through Canada's
Arctic archipelago. Canadian archeologists discovered the wreckage of
the ship in 2010 at the remote Mercy Bay site in the Northwest
Territories.
(Reuters, 7/29/10)
1866 Aug 8, African-American
Matthew Alexander Henson was born in Maryland. He and four Inuits
accompanied U.S. Naval Commander Robert E. Peary when he planted the
U.S. flag at the North Pole on April 6, 1909. Henson became an Arctic
expert during Peary's first two failed expeditions. By the third
attempt, which began in July 1908, Henson's strength, knowledge of the
Eskimo language and dog driving skills made him an essential member of
the team. Whether Peary's party actually reached the North Pole or
missed it by as much as 60 miles due to a navigational miscalculation
remains controversial to this day.
(HNPD, 8//99)(Internet)
1879 Jul 8, The steamship USS
Jeannette under Lt. George W. De Long departed San Francisco on an
expedition to reach the North Pole. [see June 12, 1881]
(ON, 2/05, p.1)
1881 Jun 12, The steamship USS
Jeannette sank under ice during an expedition to reach the North Pole.
The crew, having abandoned the ship, prepared 3 lifeboats in an attempt
to reach Siberia. Less than half survived. Chief engineer George W.
Melville (d.1912) made it back to NYC on Sep 13, 1883, and in 1900
became engineer in chief of the US Navy.
(ON, 2/05, p.1,5)(http://tinyurl.com/d5622)
1881 Jul, US Army Lt. Augustus W.
Greely led a scientific expedition to Ellesmere Island in the Canadian
Arctic and called the site Ft. Conger. 25 American soldiers set forth
to establish a scientific base in the Arctic. There were only 6
survivors. In 2000 Leonard Gurttridge authored "Ghosts of Cape Sabine,"
which told their story.
(SFC, 3/9/00, p.D12)
1893 Jun, Fridtjof Nansen left
Norway for the North Pole aboard the Fram. He theorized that the ship
would become ice-bound and cross the Arctic and the North Pole in 3
years.
(ON, 7/05, p.1)
1895 Mar 15, Fridtjof Nansen and
Hjalmar Johansen left their ship Fram in an attempt to reach the North
Pole by dogsled. [see Jun 17, 1896]
(ON, 7/05, p.5)
1896 Jun 17, Fridtjof Nansen and
Hjalmar Johansen met up with English explorer Frederick Jackson at
Franz Joseph Land in the Arctic.
(ON, 7/05, p.5)
1896 Aug 20, Fridtjof Nansen and
Hjalmar Johansen arrived back in Norway following a 3 year Arctic
venture. In 1898 Nansen published “Farthest North,” a best-selling
account of his adventure. In 1922 Nansen was awarded the Nobel Prize
for Peace.
(ON, 7/05, p.5)
1897 Swede Saloman Andrée
attempted the first expedition to fly by balloon across the North Pole.
The fate of the venture was only discovered Aug 5, 1930.
(HNQ, 5/22/01)
1905 Aug 19, Roald Amundsen and
his crew of 6 aboard Gjøe, a converted herring boat, made
contact with the US Coast Guard cutter Bear, which confirmed their
crossing the Northwest Passage following a 26-month journey. Amundsen
continued by dogsled to the Yukon while his crew completed their
journey at Point Bonita, California, just outside the Golden
Gate.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.D8)(WSJ, 4/18/00, p.A16)(Ind,
4/27/02, 5A)
1908 Apr 21, Arctic explorer
Frederick A. Cook claimed to have discovered the North Pole a year
ahead of Peary. Many historians suspect that neither explorer
succeeded. The term “Dr. Cook weather” refers to an incident where Dr.
Cook once left a chilly New York baseball game after which the city
papers trumpeted; “Game called, even too cold for Dr. Cook.” Cook's
assertion was later proved false. In 2005 Bruce Henderson authored
“True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole.” [see Apr 6, 1909]
(SFC, 8/18/96, p.B8)(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A20)(SSFC,
4/17/05, p.C1)
1908 Jul 6, Robert Peary's
expedition sailed from NYC for north pole.
(MC, 7/6/02)
1909 Apr 6, Explorers Robert E.
Peary, Matthew A. Henson and four Inuits became the first men to reach
the North Pole along with 4 Eskimos. Peary used Ellesmere Island as a
base for his expedition to the North Pole. The north coast of Ellesmere
lies just 480 miles from the Pole. He was accompanied by Matthew
Henson, an African-American, who had spent 18 years in the Arctic with
Peary. The claim was disputed by skeptics and in 1988 the original
navigational records were uncovered from the dog-sled voyage indicating
that Peary probably never got closer than 121 miles from the North
Pole. In 1989 the Navigation Foundation upheld that Peary reached the
North Pole.
(NG, 6/1988, 754, 757)(SFC, 8/18/96, p.B8)(SFC,
10/2/99, p.A20)(AP, 4/6/08)(SFC, 9/11/08, p.B4)
1909 Arctic explorer Frederick A.
Cook claimed to have discovered the North Pole a year ahead of Peary.
Many historians suspect that neither explorer succeeded. The term “Dr.
Cook weather” refers to an incident where Dr. Cook once left a chilly
New York baseball game after which the city papers trumpeted; “Game
called—even too cold for Dr. Cook.” Cook's assertion was later proved
false.
(SFC, 8/18/96, p.B8)(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A20)
1921 Vilhjalmur Stefansson
organized an expedition to the Arctic Wrangel Island and became trapped
there with 3 companions and an Eskimo seamstress named Ada Blackjack.
In 2003 Jennifer Niver authored "Ada Blackjack: A True Story of
Survival in the Arctic."
(SSFC, 12/7/03, p.M4)
1925 An unusual first of sorts
took place as two nations tried to reach the North Pole by air.
Norway’s all-out effort was made by a team composed of the first
explorer to reach the South Pole, Roald Amundsen, and a rich young
American adventurer, Lincoln Ellsworth. The attempt by the United
States was on the hidden agenda of a relatively unknown naval aviator
(Richard Byrd) who was eager to try such a flight during an expedition
on which he had teamed up with a well-known Arctic explorer (Donald B.
MacMillan) who wanted no part of an attempt to reach the pole. The
MacMillan Arctic Expedition marked the first productive use of aircraft
in Arctic exploration and also brought aviator-explorer Richard Byrd
into the national limelight.
(HNQ, 3/18/01)
1926 May 9, Americans Richard Byrd
and Floyd Bennett made the first flight over the North Pole. [see
1888-1957, Byrd] Two teams of aviators competed to be the first to fly
over the North Pole. American Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard E. Byrd and pilot
Floyd Bennett claimed victory when they circled the North Pole. But
even today experts suspect that faulty navigation caused Byrd to miss
the North Pole. Later archivists determined that Byrd was probably 150
miles short of the pole. His tri-motor Fokker monoplane named Josephine
Ford probably came within 2.25 degrees of the pole.
(HFA, ‘96, p.30)(TMC, 1994, p.1926)(SFC, 5/9/96,
p.A-13)(HN, 5/9/98)(HNPD, 5/13/99)
1926 May 11, Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen launched the dirigible Norge on a planned flight, not
merely over the pole, but all the way across the Arctic to Alaska. Byrd
and Bennett in their Josephine Ford plane briefly accompanied Norge in
a gesture of goodwill.
(HNPD, 5/13/99)
1926 May 12, Italian Col. Umberto
Nobile of the Italian army piloted his Norge dirigible over the North
Pole with Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen.
(ON, 10/00, p.5)
1926 May 14, Amundsen reached
Alaska.
(HNPD, 5/13/99)
1928 May 23, Italian Gen. Nobile
reached the North Pole for a 2nd time with a 16-man crew aboard the
dirigible Italia.
(ON, 10/00, p.5)
1928 May 24, The dirigible Italia
crashed while attempting to reach Spitzbergen. Nine men survived the
initial crash. In 2000 Wilbur Cross authored "Disaster at the Pole," a
revised edition of the 1960 version of the disaster led by Italian
aviator Umberto Nobile. The Russian film "Krasnaya palatka" (1969),
starring Sean Connery, detailed the Nobile expedition and attempted
rescue. This movie was released in North America under the title "The
Red Tent."
(ON, 10/00, p.6)(SSFC, 1/7/01, Par
p.14)(www.imdb.com/title/tt0067315/)
1928 Jun 3, An amateur radio
operator in Archangel, Russian, picked up a distress signal from the
crew of the Italia and reported the crew’s location. A 2nd report from
an American amateur changed the location and proved to be a hoax.
(ON, 10/00, p.6)
1928 Jun 17, The 1st airplanes
appeared in the vicinity of the Italia crew.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)
1928 Jun 18, Norwegian explorer
Roald Amundsen (b.1872) flew to the North Pole with a crew of rescuers
to search for the survivors of the dirigible Italia. They were never
seen again.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)(Ind, 4/27/02,
5A)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Amundsen)
1928 Jun 20, A plane passed
overhead and dropped provisions to the Italia crew.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)
1928 Jun 23, A small Swedish
military plane under Lt. Einar-Paul Lundborg landed with skis and took
Gen. Nobile back to Spitzbergen. Lundborg then flew back for another
pickup but crashed on landing and was trapped with the Italia survivors.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)
1928 Jul 6, Lundborg’s navigator
returned to the Arctic with a smaller plane and picked up Lt. Lundborg.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)
1928 Jul 11, The Russian
icebreaker Krassin picked up 2 Italia crew members, who had tried to
trek to land.
(ON, 10/00, p.8)
1928 Jul 12, The Russian
icebreaker Krassin rescued the rest of the dirigible Italia crew
members. In 1969 Gary Hogg authored ”Airship Over the Pole: The Story
of the Italia.” In 2000 Wilbur Cross authored “Disaster at the Pole.”
(ON, 10/00, p.8)
1930 Aug 5, The Norwegian steamer
Bratvaag anchored near the inhospitable shores of White Island on the
far northeastern tip of Spitsbergen. Harpooners Olaf Salen and Carl
Tusvik had gone ashore to skin walrus, when they suddenly kicked a
rusted tin can. After examining the relic, they hastily searched their
immediate area. Protruding from a snow bank was the darkened prow of a
small boat with a boathook sticking out. Precisely painted letters on
the wood were still legible: "Andrée's Polar Expedition of 1897."
(HNQ, 5/22/01)
1931 Aug 28, Hubert Wilkins,
Australian explorer, reached within 550 miles of the North Pole in the
submarine Nautilus.
(ON, 1/02, p.8)
1937 Jun 6, Ivan Papanin
(1894-1986) raised the Soviet flag over the North Pole-1 station. For
234 days the 4-man Papanin team carried out a wide range of scientific
observations in the near-polar zone.
(Econ, 8/11/07,
p.43)(www.mvk.ru/eng/about/press/publications/publication_105.shtm)
1942 Jun 27, The Allied Convoy
PQ-17 left Iceland for Murmansk and Archangel. As their escorts turned
away, the ships of the doomed Allied convoy PQ-17 followed orders and
began to disperse in the Arctic waters.
(HN, 6/27/98)
1944 Jan 28, Matthew Henson
received a joint medal from Congress as co-discoverer of the North
Pole.
(HN, 1/28/99)
1951 May 29, C.F. Blair became the
1st man to fly over the North Pole flight in single engine plane.
(HN, 5/29/98)
1952 May 3, The first airplane
landed at geographic North Pole. It was a ski-modified U.S. Air Force
C-47, piloted by Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict (d.1974) of
California and Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma. In
2002 Charles B. Compton authored "Born to Fly: Some Life Sketches of
Lieutenant Colonel William P. Benedict."
(Polar Times, Fall, 97)(CBC)
1958 Aug 1, The US atomic sub USS
Nautilus 1st dove under the North Pole.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1958 Aug 3, The nuclear-powered
submarine USS Nautilus became the first vessel to cross the North Pole
underwater. The Nautilus was decommissioned in 1980 and designated a
National Historic Landmark in 1982.
(PCh, 1992, p.965)(AP,
8/3/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_%28SSN-571%29)
1958 Sep 22, The nuclear submarine
USS Skate remained a record 31 days under the North Pole.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1958 Oct 6, The US nuclear sub USS
Seawolf remained a record 60 days under pole.
(MC, 10/6/01)
1959 Mar 17, The USS Skate became
the 1st submarine to surface at the North Pole. The ships crew held a
funeral service and scattered the ashes of explorer Hubert Wilkins
(d.1958), who had attempted the feat in 1931.
(ON, 1/02, p.9)
1968 Apr 19, Ralph S. Plaisted
(1927- 2008), insurance salesman turned explorer, reached the North
Pole by snowmobile with 3 other men. This was the first expedition to
indisputably reach the North Pole.
(SFC, 9/11/08, p.B4)
1969 Apr 6, Sir Wally Herbert
(1934-2007), English explorer, reached the North Pole on foot along
with 3 others on his team. They became the first men to cross the
entire frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean on foot covering the 3,720
miles in 16 months. Roy Koerner, a glaciologist accompanying Herbert,
drilled more than 250 ice core samples during the journey.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1929131.ece)
1969 May 29, Britain's
Trans-Arctic expedition made the 1st crossing of Arctic Sea ice. Roy
Koerner (1932-2008), more commonly known as Fritz, was one of the four
members of Sir Wally Herbert’s British Transarctic Expedition which, on
April 6, 1969, stood at the North Pole.
(www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1929131.ece)
1980 Feb 29, Pres. Carter signed a
law that renamed the Arctic National Wildlife Range to the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge and more than doubled its size. The law
directed the Interior Dept. to assess oil potential in 1.5 million
acres of the coastal plain. A ban was put on drilling in the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge. In 2002 Pres. Bush pushed to overturn the
ban. Estimates on oil there ranged from 3.2 to at least 5.7 billion
barrels.
(SSFC, 2/24/02, p.A9)(SSFC, 8/28/05,
p.A13)(http://tinyurl.com/2udcgx)
1986 May 1, Will Steger (b.1943)
and his dog sled expedition reached the North Pole without re-supply.
(www.qsl.net/kg0yh/other.htm)
1988 Apr 6, Black Arctic explorer
Matthew Henson (1866-1955) was re-buried next to Robert Peary in
Arlington, Va.
(www.answers.com/topic/matthew-henson)
1988 In the Arctic original
navigational records were uncovered from Admiral Peary’s 1909 dog-sled
voyage indicating that he probably never got closer than 121 miles from
the North Pole.
(SFC, 9/11/08, p.B4)
1998 Mar 21, It was reported that
Chinese researchers had discovered heavy industrial pollution in the
snow around the North Pole.
(SFC, 3/21/98, p.A9)
1998 Apr 21, Skydivers from
Malaysia parachuted the national car, the Proton Wira sedan, onto the
North Pole this week.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1999 Nov 20, It was reported that
the Arctic average ice thickness had declined by 4.25 feet since the
1960s, a 40% reduction.
(SFC, 11/20/99, p.A21)
2000 Jul, Visitors to the North
Pole reported that the ice had melted for the 1st time in recorded
history and formed a free patch of ocean about a mile in diameter.
(SFC, 8/26/00, p.A20)
2003 Mar 17, Pen Hadow, 41, began
a 478-mile trek from Ward Hunt Island in northern Canada to the
geographic North Pole. He reached the Pole unsupported on May 19, but a
plane has been unable to retrieve him because of broken ice and thick
clouds.
(AP, 5/27/03)
2003 Jul 6, Dennis Schmitt and 5
companions stepped on a 120-foot-long pile of dirt at 83°42’
latitude, Earth’s farthest north piece of known land. The Arctic site
was 432 miles from the North Pole and under the jurisdiction of
Greenland. In 2004 Danish authorities discounted the find in favor of a
larger island called Kaffklubben.
(SFC, 6/17/04, p.B1)(SFC, 6/18/04, p.B10)
2004 Oct 4, The Denmark Science
Ministry said it aims to show the North Pole belongs to Denmark and is
sending an expedition to try to prove that the seabed there is a
natural continuation of Danish territory.
(AP, 10/4/04)
2004 Nov 8, A comprehensive
scientific study of the Arctic climate was released and confirmed that
the North is melting, and faster all the time.
(CP, 11/8/04)
2004 A $12.5 million Arctic Coring
Expedition, run by a consortium called the Int’l. Ocean Drilling
Program, drilled into layers of sediment millions of years old.
(SFC, 6/1/06, p.A5)
2005 May 24, Indigenous leaders
from Arctic regions around the world called on the European Union to do
more to fight global warming and to consider giving aid to their
peoples.
(AP, 5/24/05)
2005 Sep 28, Climate experts said
the Arctic ice cap shrank this summer to its smallest size in at least
a century.
(SFC, 9/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Marla Cone authored “Silent
Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic.”
(SSFC, 5/22/05, p.F2)
2006 Mar 23, Mike Horn (39) of
South Africa and Borge Ousland (43) of Norway completed a 620-mile trek
without outside supplies or help from dog sleds to the North Pole after
64 days of walking, skiing, climbing, swimming across ice openings.
(AP, 3/24/06)
2006 Jun 15, The environmental
group WWF said toxic chemicals are harming Arctic animals including
polar bears, beluga whales, seals and seabirds.
(AP, 6/15/06)
2006 Aug 17, In the Arctic ice Lt.
Jessica Hill (31) and Boatswain's Mate Steven Duque (22), divers on the
US Coast Guard cutter Healy, died during a practice dive.
(AP, 9/24/06)
2006 Sep 13, NASA scientists said
the ice in the Arctic Sea is melting in winter as well as in summer,
likely due to global warming. The ice was reportedly melting at 9% a
decade.
(SFC, 9/14/06, p.A1)(Econ, 9/9/06, Survey p.6)
2007 Mar 20, An explosion aboard
the HMS Tireless, a nuclear-powered Royal Navy submarine under an
Arctic ice cap, killed two British sailors and injured a crewmember.
(AP, 3/21/07)
2007 May 1, A US ice expert said
the Arctic ice cap is melting much faster than expected and is now
about 30 years ahead of predictions made by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 Jun 1, The Norwegian
environmental group Bellona warned that a nuclear waste dump in the
Russia Arctic may be in danger of exploding because of corrosion caused
by salt water in enormous storage tanks.
(AP, 6/1/07)
2007 Jun 4, The UN warned in a
report that up to 12% of Arctic ice has turned to water in the past 30
years, an alarming fact that only accelerates global warming further.
(AP, 6/4/07)
2007 Jul 9, Canada announced plans
to increase its Arctic military presence in an effort to assert
sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, a potentially oil-rich region
the United States claims is international territory.
(AP, 7/9/07)
2007 Jul 27, Russia said it
planned to send a small submarine to the ocean floor under the North
Pole to stake a claim to the region.
(WSJ, 1/28/07, p.A1)
2007 Aug 1, Russian explorers
readied for a historic descent to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean under
the North Pole as part of an expedition to claim the area for Russia.
(AP, 8/1/07)
2007 Aug 2, Two deep-diving
Russian mini-submarines descended more than 2 1/2 miles under North
Pole ice to stake a flag on the ocean floor, part of a quest to bolster
Russian claims to much of the Arctic's oil-and-mineral wealth.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 2, Canada dismissed
Russia's claim to a large chunk of the resource-rich Arctic, saying the
tactic was more suited to the 15th century than the real world.
(AP, 8/2/07)
2007 Aug 10, The United States
launched an expedition toward the Arctic to map the sea floor off
Alaska.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2007 Aug 10, Canada's prime
minister announced plans for an army training center and a deepwater
port on the third day of an Arctic trip meant to assert sovereignty
over a region.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2007 Aug 10, Denmark was reported
to be planning a monthlong expedition, to begin Aug 12, to seek
evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,240-mile underwater mountain
range, is attached to the Danish territory of Greenland, making it a
geological extension of the Arctic island.
(AP, 8/10/07)
2007 Sep 20, NASA released
satellite data that showed sea ice in the Arctic had shrunk one million
square miles more this summer that the average melt over 24 years. This
represented an area larger that Alaska and Texas combined. Arctic sea
ice shrunk to a record 1.59 million square miles since NASA started
recording satellite data in 1979.
(SFC, 9/21/07, p.A1)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.A2)
2008 Mar 18, NASA reported that
the thickest Arctic ice is melting according to satellite data.
(WSJ, 3/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Jun 9, Russia and Norway met
for 2-days talks in the hope of making progress in a decades-old
dispute over their maritime border in the Barents Sea, a part of the
Arctic that could hold large oil and gas reserves. After visiting the
Norwegian town of Kirkenes, the ministers will go to Murmansk in
northwest Russia.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2008 Dec 16, NASA said satellite
data indicated that more than 2 trillion tons of land ice in Alaska,
Antarctica and Greenland since 2003 among the latest signs of global
warming. A scientist from America’s National Snow and Ice Data Center
said the shrinking of Arctic ice (and exposure of extra sea to
radiation) was warming the world at an accelerating pace.
(SFC, 12/17/08, p.A20)(Econ, 12/20/08, p.109)
2009 Mar 27, Russian media
reported that the presidential Security Council has released a document
outlining government policy for the Arctic that includes creating a
special group of military forces.
(AP, 3/27/09)
2010 Apr 10, French explorer
Jean-Louis Etienne (63) made the first Arctic crossing by balloon,
landing in the tundra of eastern Siberia five days after taking off in
Norway.
(AP, 4/10/10)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Arctic
End of file.