People are surprised to learn that curlews are in trouble; the much-loved birds are seen and heard, particularly along the coast, in winter., writes Richard Collins

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

A “warm, crazy” winter has left sea ice in the Arctic at its lowest levels on record for the season, scientists said.

Russia's defence minister says the country will have a military unit permanently stationed in the Arctic by 2018.

Russia has submitted its bid for vast territories in the Arctic to the UN.

Opponents of Royal Dutch Shell’s use of a Seattle seaport terminal to prepare for exploratory oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean have attacked on two fronts.

What’s the toughest part of running 350 miles into the Arctic Circle?

IT was on the fringes of a lounge bar conversation about the water charges when I heard something that annoyed me. 

UNINTENDED consequences: the focus on water charges over the last while has, rightly, been on things like handing over our PPSNs. We don’t know where that data is going to end up. Will it be left in a laptop in a taxi, after an EPIC Friday night, and then the emails you normally get from the ‘Widow of Brigadier Celestine Agabi, formerly of the Ivory Coast’, will start getting a heck of a lot more specific?

US federal regulators say they have granted the first permission for commercial drone flights over land.

Canada signalled intentions to claim the North Pole and surrounding Arctic waters while announcing the filing of a UN application seeking to vastly expand its Atlantic sea boundary.

Expanding Russia’s military presence in the Arctic region is among the armed forces’ top priorities, president Vladimir Putin has declared.

Russian coast guards have boarded a Greepeace ship which is in the Arctic to protest against oil drilling.

Russian scientists claim to have discovered blood in the carcass of a woolly mammoth, adding that the rare find could boost chances of cloning the prehistoric animal.

With Arctic ice melting at a faster rate than ever before, raising sea levels and causing severe weather, action is needed before it’s too late, reports Stefan Rahmstorf

Royal Dutch Shell has halted its drilling in the Arctic a day after the work began as sea ice moved towards the company’s drill ship off Alaska, putting what the company has called a historic move on temporary hold.

A NEW assessment of climate change in the Arctic shows the region’s ice and snow are melting faster than previously thought and sharply raises projections of global sea level rise this century.

A new assessment of climate change in the Arctic shows the region’s ice and snow are melting faster than previously thought and sharply raises projections of global sea level rise this century.

A WOMAN who was dropped into the ocean off Norway while being transferred from a cruise ship to another vessel has died.

A British woman who was dropped into the sea off Norway while being transferred from a cruise ship to another vessel has died.

THE protective ozone layer in the Arctic that keeps out the sun’s most damaging rays — ultraviolet radiation — has thinned about 40% this winter, a record drop, the UN weather agency has said.

Scientists are monitoring a massive pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean that could spill into the Atlantic and potentially alter the ocean currents that bring Western Europe its moderate climate.

Richard Branson says he plans to travel to the deepest parts of the world’s oceans in a single-person submarine.

A subsidiary of Shell Oil applied to drill one exploration well next year in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast.

THIS decade is on track to become the warmest since records began in 1850, and 2009 could rank among the top-five warmest years, the UN weather agency reported yesterday on the second day of a pivotal 192-nation climate conference.

THE Arctic Ocean will be an “open sea” almost entirely free from ice within a decade, the latest data released yesterday indicates.

Arctic Ocean sea ice has melted to the second lowest level since satellite observations began, US scientists warned today.

Two manned submarines today set a world record for the deepest freshwater dive reaching the bottom of Lake Baikal.

A TINY Alaskan village eroding into the Arctic Ocean is suing two dozen oil, power and coal companies, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to the global warming they say threatens the community’s existence.

A tiny Alaska village eroding into the Arctic Ocean is suing two dozen oil, power and coal companies, claiming that the large amounts of greenhouse gases they emit contribute to the global warming they say threatens the community’s existence.

SCIENTISTS fear global warming has passed an ominous tipping point after Nasa satellite data showed the already relentless melting of the Arctic increased greatly during the northern hemisphere’s hot summer months.

AN ambitious Russian naval expedition has resumed its voyage toward the North Pole after the crew repaired the research ship’s engine, a Russian TV correspondent aboard the ship reported.

More than 50,000 scientists from 63 nations turned their attention to the world’s poles to measure the effects of climate change.

SCIENTISTS have found what might have been the ideal ancient hotspot with a 23c average temperature, alligator ancestors and palm trees. It’s smack in the middle of the Arctic.

DELAYS on the controversial Corrib gas pipeline mean the project will not be operational before 2008, Norwegian oil giant Statoil said yesterday.

A FUTURISTIC Russian-US project to launch a solar sail space vehicle crashed when the Russian booster rockets failed less than two minutes after lift-off, showering debris over the Arctic Ocean, the Russian space agency said yesterday.

Thousands of sealers armed with clubs, rifles and spears have descended on the ice floes off eastern Canada for the world’s largest seal hunt.