Among the world’s most inhospitable and remote regions, the Arctic has long been seen as a bleak and barren environment.

But, as concerns about melting sea ice and shrinking icebergs grow, there are clearly opportunities for gaining access to areas previously considered beyond our reach.

As the climate continues to change and ice retreats, we have the opportunity to discover new shipping routes and to find ways to harvest a multitude of long-locked natural resources.

Despite the fact that things may be warming up in the Arctic, it will still remain a very difficult and extreme environment to monitor and explore.

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Tags: Arctic, DARPA, remote sensors, Extreme environments

Even if it has been warmer than usual in much of North America, Alaska is seeing a real winter, even by it’s standards.

The Alaskan fire RAWS (Remote Automated Weather Station) network, which comprises about 133 FTS fixed RAWS, regularly sustains extremely cold temperatures and extremely large temperature swings. This past January was no exception, with the Noatak station recording 8 days having an average temperature of minus 50°F (-45.6°C) or lower, and a temperature swing of 48 degrees Fahrenheit within a span of 6 days. Despite the extreme temperatures, data for wind speed and direction, air temperature and humidity and solar radiation was measured and transmitted over GOES, with not one missed transmission for the entire month. The data can be viewed on the WRCC website. Read More...

Tags: RAWS, Alaska, Extreme environments, Temperature, Cold, GOES, Remote