9781422279243

O il and G as in the A rctic E X P L O R I N G T H E P O L A R R E G I O N S T O D AY

BY MICHAEL CENTORE

E X P L O R I N G T H E P O L A R R E G I O N S T O D AY

A ntarctica and the A rctic Facts, Figures, and Stories A rctic C ulture The People of the Ice A rctic W ildlife A ntarctic W ildlife C limate C hange and the P olar R egions O il and G as in the A rctic P olar E xploration Courage and Controversy P olar P olitics Earth’s Next Battlegrounds?

E X P L O R I N G T H E P O L A R R E G I O N S T O D AY O il and G as in the A rctic

BY MICHAEL CENTORE

MASON CREST

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Series ISBN: 978-1-4222-3863-9 ISBN: 978-1-4222-3869-1 ebook ISBN: 978-1-4222-7924-3

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C ontents

Introduction................................................................................................... 6 1 The Arctic Landscape......................................................8 2 Resources in the Arctic................................................ 22 3 Political Realities............................................................ 34 4 The Future of the Arctic................................................ 48 Find Out More........................................................................................... 62

Series Glossary of Key Terms............................................................... 63

Index/Author.............................................................................................. 64

Key Icons to Look For

Words to Understand: These words with their easy-to-understand definitions will increase the reader’s understanding of the text, while building vocabulary skills. Sidebars: This boxed material within the main text allows readers to build knowledge, gain insights, explore possibilities, and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos : Readers can view videos by scanning our QR codes, providing them with additional educational content to supplement the text. Examples include news coverage, moments in history, speeches, iconic sports moments, and much more!

Text-Dependent Questions: These questions send the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented here.

Research Projects: Readers are pointed toward areas of further inquiry connected to each chapter. Suggestions are provided for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. Series Glossary of Key Terms: This back-of-the-book glossary contains ter- minology used throughout this series. Words found here increase the reader’s ability to read and comprehend higher-level books and articles in this field.

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I ntroduction

H umankind is in the midst of an environmental crisis. Science has shown that the climate of the earth is changing, due in no small part to our dependence on fossil fuels. Global consumption of petro- leum and other liquid fuels is expected to rise by 1.5 million barrels per day in 2016 and 2017, further threatening our unstable climate. What’s more, these resources are finite, meaning they cannot be re- placed once we take them out of the ground. Turning organic matter into oil and gas is a natural process that takes millions of years—much more time than we have to meet today’s energy demands. This is a complex problem with many proposed solutions. Envi- ronmentalists, climate scientists, and many who live in vulnerable landscapes believe the best way forward is to begin “phasing out” of fossil fuels. This means developing alternative energy sources such as wind, water, and solar. Some industrialists, politicians, and other supporters of continuing with oil and gas believe fossil fuels are the only sure way to keep the international economy going.These groups see the Arctic as a vast, untapped resource. The effects of climate change have already begun to make them- selves felt in the Arctic. Ice is melting, sea levels are rising, and pre- viously inaccessible regions are now open for exploration. Already companies like Shell have dug exploratory wells in places that were out of reach a few decades ago. New sea lanes open up trade routes through the Arctic for fossil fuels, making them much less difficult to transport from such remote areas. While this may mean increased profits for companies and re- source availability for consumers, Arctic drilling comes at a cost. New infrastructure can damage native landscapes and endanger the

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Introduction

well-being of local com- munities and animal pop- ulations. Oil spills—such as the Deepwater Hori- zon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010—are a constant threat. Because the Arctic Ocean is so icy and remote, oil could get trapped beneath the sur- face andmake a leak very difficult to seal.Add to this the trash andwaste prod- ucts left behind, and it is clear to see that explora- tion and drilling impact the health of the Arctic in many different ways.

Will drilling rigs like this one someday dot the ice- shrouded waters of the Arctic?

On a broader scale, continued drilling for fossil fuels in places like theArctic only reinforces our dependence on them.This contributes to the long-term effects of climate change.At the same time, the transfer from fossil fuels to alternative energy will not happen overnight.As we chart out our collective energy future, the Arctic remains a contested area. Even if we find ourselves far away from it geographically, the decisions made there will impact all of us.

The landscape in the Arctic ranges from high, snow-covered mountains to vast fields of forest, as well as sheets of ice near the North Pole.

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The Arctic Landscape

Words to Understand complicate  to make something more complicated or difficult. migratory  an animal that travels from one place to another. permafrost  a layer of permanently frozen earth. Scandinavia  a region in Northern Europe that includes Norway, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark. taiga  a forest of mostly evergreen trees found in the southern Arctic regions. tundra  a type of biome in very cold areas characterized by limited plant growth, frozen soil, and low rainfall. C hances are you do not give much thought to the 5.5 million square miles (12.5 million sq km) of ice, ocean, and tundra known as the Arctic. Located at the northernmost part of the earth, far from major population centers, the Arctic is a vast, cold landscape with an average winter temperature of around -30˚F (-34°C). It includes the very icy Arctic Ocean as well as Greenland, Spitsbergen (an island in northern Norway), and the northern regions of Alaska, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Russia. Some parts of the Arctic are covered with huge

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The dotted line represents the Arctic Circle, running around the globe at about 66 degrees of north latitude, though it varies slightly with the seasons.

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The Arctic Landscape

The waters around the Arctic ice cap are some of the roughest, coldest, and most dangerous in the world.

bodies of ice known as glaciers. Other parts have free-moving rivers, lakes, and wetlands. Stretches of tundra support the life of some 1,700 kinds of plants and fungi, as well as many species of animals and migratory birds. Because theArctic is not adefined landformlikeNorthor South America or the other continents, its boundaries are sometimes tricky to determine. Generally, one of three borders is used: the imaginary line of latitude at 66 degrees 33 minutes north known as the Arctic Circle; the northernmost edge of where trees can survive on land, called the treeline; or the line around the area

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with an average July temperature of 50˚F (10°C) or below. Different orga- nizations use different boundaries, which can sometimes complicate data collection and international agreements about the region. At the center of the Arctic is its most dominant feature, the nearly circular-shapedArctic Ocean. It is the smallest of theworld’s five oceans,but makes up for it in depth; its deepest point, the Eurasian Basin, measures some 17,880 feet (5,449 m). Much of the ocean’s surface is covered with ice. Some of this is frozen seawater, or pack ice, including the polar ice cap at the North Pole. Large chunks of pack ice called floes also float across the water, colliding to create thick ridges. In thewinter when temperatures fall, more of the ocean freezes so there is a greater amount of ice. When tem- peratures rise again in the summer,

Arctic vs. Antarctica Because they are two of the coldest, most sparsely populated places on earth, people often confuse the Arctic with Antarc- tica. There are many differences between the two places, the most obvious being that the Arctic is in the north and contains the North Pole, while Antarctica is home to the South Pole on the opposite end of the globe. Another major difference is that Antarctica is its own continent—meaning that beneath all the ice and snow is solid, stony land—and the Arctic is mainly frozen ocean surrounded by parts of different continents. The bedrock of Antarctica keeps it much colder year-round than the comparatively warmer ocean temperatures of the Arctic. While it’s often believed that polar bears and penguins live in both places, it’s actually polar bears who roam the Arctic and penguins who live in the Antarctic.

over half the ice melts back into the ocean. Two other main forms of Arctic ice are glaciers and icebergs. Glaciers are like giant frozen rivers that move slowly over land.

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The Arctic Landscape

They are formed from thousands and thousands of years of compacted snowfall.When a glacier reaches the land’s edge, its massive tip breaks off into the sea to become an iceberg. Many of theArctic’s glaciers are located inGreenland,where ice covers nearly 80 percent of the land’s surface. Though “south” is a relative term when talking about the Arctic, the further in that direction one goes, the more the land-

Though the Arctic is a very cold region, at its southern edges are vast boreal forests filled with evergreen trees and wildlife.

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scape changes. Below the frigid waters of the Arctic Ocean lies the tundra, which is derived from the Finnish word tunturia , meaning “treeless plain.” The main feature of the tundra is its permafrost , a layer of permanently frozen earth sometimes as much as a thousand feet thick. Coupled with cold air tempera- tures and gusty Arctic winds, it is difficult for trees to take root

The rivers flowing through the taiga in the Arctic Circle are home to many types of wildlife, including several species of the mighty bear.