Recently in Arctic Category

Walrus at Poole-Pynten, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Walrus, Odobenus rosmarus, taking it easy on a Sunday afternoon at Poole-Pynten, Prins Karls Forland island, Svalbard.

Arctic Fox mother and cub, Ny-Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic Fox mother and cub, Ny-Alesund, Alopex lagopus, living under the &"London Houses" - the Dutch research station at the international research base at Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. The mother had lost her white winter coat in the preceding weeks - those are id-tags on her ears, as she's a known character in the area!

Common Eider Duck, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Eider drake stands on a roadway outside Longyearbyen, while craning its neck to vocalise its oh-oooo call. Common Eider Duck, Somateria mollissima, at the dog yard outside Longyearbyen, on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The eider nest between two enclosures of sled dogs on the outskirts of Longyearbyen, where the eggs are safe from the arctic fox, which is too scared to come close to the howling dogs.

Picture made during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition, 2010

Arctic Terns, sterna paradisea, Ny Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic Tern, sterna paradisea, preparing to mate and nest in the Arctic scientific research village of Ny-Alesund, Svalbard.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Arctic Terns, sterna paradisea, Ny Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic Tern, sterna paradisea, preparing to mate and nest in the Arctic scientific research village of Ny-Alesund, Svalbard.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Arctic Terns, sterna paradisea, Ny Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic Tern, sterna paradisea, preparing to mate and nest in the Arctic scientific research village of Ny-Alesund, Svalbard.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Purple sandpiper, Ny Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Purple sandpiper, caldiris maritma, on the beach, at Ny Alesund, Svalbard.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Ivory Gull perched above seal meat, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Ivory gull, pagophila eburnea, perched above a rack of dried seal meat at the dog yard, Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. Populations are currently in decline throughout the Arctic, possibly because of decreasing sea ice, and the PCBs and DDE found in the food they eat, for instance seal carrion from polar bear kills.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Male Snow Bunting, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Male Snow Bunting, Plectrophenax nivalis, on tundra, with coal fragments from old coalmine at Ny-Alesund, Spitsbergen, Svalbard.
Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Svalbard Reindeer, Ny-Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Svalbard Reindeer, Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus in Ny-Alesund, Svalbard. There's about 10,000 Svalbard reindeer, a small subspecies of mainland European reindeer, and are endemic to Svalbard. They are not domesticated, and are not owned by anyone.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Cracked Tundra, Ny Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Cracked Tundra, Ny-Alesund, Svalbard.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Seal in the harbout at Ny-Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Seal, probably Ringed Seal, in the harbour at Ny-Alesund

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Siberian driftwood, Ny-Alesund, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Driftwood, probably from Siberian forests on the beach at Ny-Alesund, Kongsfjord, Svalbard - where there are no trees.
Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. http://www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Black Legged Kittiwake, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Black Legged Kittiwake, rissa tridactyla, landing amongst fragments of sea ice Kongsfjord, Svalbard. Kittiwake populations have been under pressure in recent years, as changes to food sources, possibly caused by climate change and other environmental factors, have forced the birds to travel further, for longer, to get food.

Photographed during the Greenpeace Arctic Under Pressure expedition 2010. http://www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Dramatic clouds over the mountains, Svalbard, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Dramatic clouds over the mountains, in Adventfjorden, Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, in the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Photographed from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, as it arrived for the Arctic Under Pressure expedition
www.greenpeace.org/arctic2010

Ice lead, Dijmhna Sund, Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Ice lead opening in front of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, Dijmhna Sund, Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden, Greenland, 7th September 2009.

More: www.davewalshphoto.com/arctic2009

Cirrus clouds over iceberg, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Cirrus clouds over an arched Iceberg near Nuugaatsiaq, West Greenland. Seen from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, during an expedition to examine the effects of climate change in the Arctic

Cathedral iceberg, Baffin Bay, west of Greenland., originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Cathedral iceberg, Baffin Bay, west of Greenland.

View of the mountains across the Adventfjordren from Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

View of the mountains across the Adventfjordren from Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen, in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard

Ice pinnacle, Kangerlugussuaq Fjord, Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Pinnacle of ice near the mouth of Kangerlugussuaq Fjord, East Greenland. The structure is part of a large iceberg, not pictured, worn away by wind and waves.

Snow Bunting Fledgling waiting to be fed, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Snow Bunting fledgling waiting to be fed by mother, photographed on nunatuk, face of Humboldt Glacier, northwestern Greenland, during 2009 Greenpeace expedition to bear witness to Arctic Meltdown on board the Arctic Sunrise.

Iceberg in Kangderluqussuaq Fjord, East Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Iceberg with a vertical line of blue ice running through it, Kangderluqussuaq Fjord, East Greenland

Arctic tern, Sterna Paradisaea near Humboldt Glacier, Greenland. , originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic tern, Sterna Paradisaea near Humboldt Glacier, Greenland.

Mother snow bunting coming into to land beside juvenile, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Snow Bunting fledgling waiting to be fed by mother, who is landing, photographed on nunatuk, face of Humboldt Glacier, northwestern Greenland, during 2009 Greenpeace expedition to bear witness to Arctic Meltdown on board the Arctic Sunrise.

Arctic terns, Sterna Paradisaea, taking off from ice floe near Humboldt Glacier, Greenland. , originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic terns, Sterna Paradisaea, taking off from ice floe near Humboldt Glacier, Greenland. Photographed from the Greenpeace Arctic Sunrise during a 2009 expedition to examine the effects of climate change on the Arctic environment

Female snow bunting with a beakfull of maggots to feed to fledgling that's still in the nest., originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Female snow bunting with a beakfull of maggots to feed to a fledgling that's still in the nest. After she had circled us for a few minutes, we realised that the nest was in a crack in the rocks, just below our feet. So we moved away, rapidly!

Photographed on shore, near the McGarry Islands , face of Humboldt Glacier, northwestern Greenland, during 2009 Greenpeace expedition to bear witness to Arctic Meltdown on board the Arctic Sunrise.

Space between two icebergs, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Space between two icebergs, Sermilik Fjord, East Greenland, from a Greenpeace helicopter

Arctic Tern, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Arctic tern, Sterna Paradisaea near Humboldt Glacier, Greenland.

Ice sheet sliding towards Helheim Glacier, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Ice sheet sliding towards Helheim Glacier, Sermilik Fjord, East Greenland. to get a sense of scale, that ice-filled Fjord in the background is about 6km wide...

Moon rising over mountains in Nugatsiaq, Baffin Bay, Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Moon rising over mountains in Nugatsiaq, Baffin Bay, Greenland

Birds on the peak of an iceberg, Baffin Bay, off West Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Birds on the peak of an iceberg, Baffin Bay, off West Greenland

Iceberg arch in Kane Basin, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Iceberg archway in an iceberg calved from the 110km wide Humboldt Glacier, Kane Basin, remote north west Greenland

Icebergs and low cloud in Kane Basin, North West Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Icebergs and low cloud in Kane Basin, North West Greenland, seen from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, Arctic Meltdown expedition 2009

Snowing on the sunset at the mouth of Isfjord, Svalbard, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Snowing on the sunset at the mouth of Isfjord, Spitsbergen, in the Norwegian archipelego of Svalbard. Seen from the deck of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, during an expedition to examine the effects of climate change on the Arctic.

Gyrfalcon, Fram Strait, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Gyrfalcon, landing on a helicopter ("Lucky Bird") on the deck of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise in Fram Strait, 78 49 N, 0 35E. The largest falcon, the Gyrfalcon can reach speeds of up to 200km an hour in measured flight.
Follow our expedition blog:
weblog.greenpeace.org/climate/arctic_meltdown/

Iceberg under cloud, Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord, East Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

YES this is a colour image!
Iceberg under cloud, Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord, East Greenland. Taken from the deck of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise on 29 August 2009, during an expedition to investigate the effects of climate change in the Arctic.

Btw, the white streaks you can see behind the cloud and the 'berg are actually streaks of snow on a mountain, on the side of the fjord. The images is not desaturated - I just underexposed the hell out of it.

So, it's not a monochrome image. In fact, in Lightroom, the only controls I used were exposure, blacks, lights, darks, and shadows. No colour has been removed or added in the picture, I just shot it 1.6 underexposed in blinding daylight.

weblog.greenpeace.org/climate/arctic_impacts/

Humpback Whale, Sermilik Fjord, East Greenland, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Humpback Whale, one of three feeding in Sermilik Fjord, East Greenland, seen from the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, during our Arctic Meltdown expedition.
weblog.greenpeace.org/climate/arctic_impacts/

Melt River, Petermann Glacier, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Melt River, Petermann Glacier, Greenland. Photographed on the first leg of the Greenpeace Arctic Impacts expedition 07/07/2009. Peterman glacier is the longest floating glacier in the northern hemisphere. The floating area is 16km by 80km. A 100 square km chunk, about 5 billion tonnes of ice is about to break off - and we're planning on being there to see it. More at weblog.greenpeace.org/climate

Polar Bear!, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Polar Bear checking the water for seals. Photographed from the deck of the Greenpeace Ship Arctic Sunrise, Monday June 29th, at the ice edge of the Lincoln Sea, Arctic Ocean.

Photo: (c) 2009 Dave Walsh

Here's an extract from a blog entry I wrote about Monday:


The crew of the Arctic Sunrise is on top of the world today, for many mindblowing reasons. As I write this, the ship is nudged up against the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean at 82.5 north - a latitude higher than any Greenpeace ship has achieved before, as far as we know. A couple of hours after we arrived, and had barely finished breakfast, a young polar bear loped past, seemingly curious and indignant about us unfurry humans gawping at it from our inedible green ship. It had been prowling along the ice edge, looking for seals for breakfast. We later saw evidence that it may have been successful, but I'll spare squeamish readers the details. After such a short time here, it's incredible that we've seen one of the world's most formidable animals, one that is at risk from the lost of sea ice caused by climate change.

Where are we anyway? To the west, in the distance are mountains in the north of Ellesmere Island, and we can just about see the Canadian base at Alert. To the east, the mountains Greenland's top end lie on the horizon. To the south, Nares Strait - the route to Baffin Bay by which we arrived, and to the north - well, there's really only frozen ocean between here and the geographic North Pole. Earlier - with lookouts keeping an eye for polar bears, most of the crew jumped out onto the ice, taking a very short stroll around on the Arctic Ocean, before Nick had us clowning for a crew photograph - with Captain Pete holding a sign that reads "North Pole: 445 miles".

You can read more at weblog.greenpeace.org/climate

Late Night with Nanuk »

Petermann Glacier from above, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Petermann Glacier, seen from above, northwestern Greenland. To get a sense of scale, I'd say you're looking at an area about 1.5km wide.

Photographed from a helicopter on the first leg of the Greenpeace Arctic Impacts expedition 07/07/2009. Peterman glacier is the longest floating glacier in the northern hemisphere. The floating area is 16km by 80km. A 100 square km chunk, about 5 billion tonnes of ice is about to break off - and we're planning on being there to see it. Read my articles at the Climate Change blog weblog.greenpeace.org/climate

Iceberg: Gaudi Rooftop, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Iceberg in Kane Basin, Northwest Greenland.

Twist and turn: Petermann Glacier, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Twist and turn: Petermann Glacier


Petermann Glacier, near its face, northwestern Greenland. This floating part of the glacier is 80km long, and 16km wide at it's skinniest. The cliffs in the backgrounds are around 1000m high.

Photographed on the first leg of the Greenpeace Arctic Impacts expedition 07/07/2009. Peterman glacier is the longest floating glacier in the northern hemisphere. The floating area is 16km by 80km. A 100 square km chunk, about 5 billion tonnes of ice is about to break off - and we're planning on being there to see it. Read my articles and see Nick Cobbing's photographs at the Climate Change blog weblog.greenpeace.org/climate

Iceberg: Sleeping Giant, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Icberg near Humboldt Glacier, Kane Basin, remote northwest Greenland

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

More pictures here »

Nestled into the rocky waste of plataberget Mountain about Svalbard's airport, the Global Seed Vault is at once startling and innocuous. Designed by architect Peter W. Søderman at Barlindhaug Consulting, this concrete, steel and glass structure is the first layer of security to a repository of millions of seeds from around the world, stored here in case of disaster, disease, or war.

The Svalbard Global Seed Bank is situated 120 metres (390 ft) inside a sandstone
mountain at Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen Island, in the Svalbard archipelago about 1300km from the North Pole. Svalbard was considered ideal for the bank, due to low tectonic activity and its permafrost, which will aid preservation. Even if sea levels rise due to climate change - and the melting of ice caps, the seeds will be safe and dry , as they are stored at a location 130 metres (430 ft) above sea level.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault provides a safety net against accidental loss of diversity from traditional storage within genebanks around the world, and has a capacity for 4.5 million seeds. Although the media has made much of the "Doomsday Vault's" role in providing security in the face of war or or catastrophe, the operators - the Norwegian government and the Global Crop Diversity Trust and the Nordic Genetic Resource Center - say that it will be most useful when genebanks lose samples due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts and natural disasters.

Walrus, Kane Basin, Northwest Greenland., originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Walrus, Kane Basin, Northwest Greenland.

Nanuk: Polar Bear looking me right in the eye, originally uploaded by Dave Walsh Photography.

Posted to flickr in August 2009 Nanuk: Polar Bear, Ursus Maritimus seen from the deck of the Arctic Sunrise in Kane Basin, North west Greenland. The bear's curiosity drew the ship while it was stationary, in sea ice, just after midnight on Sunday morning. It came very close to the ship, and even looked like it thought about trying to scale the side of the vessel, before playfully rolling about on the ice.