Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Driftwood found along the shores of northern Svalbard that were once frozen in sea ice offers insight into changes in the ice and Arctic Ocean currents over the last 500 years, according to a new study that traces their journey from boreal forests in the north to the beaches in Norway’s archipelago.
The paper, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, found that fewer driftwood has made its way to Svalbard over the last three decades, a change that underscores just how much sea ice -- an important part of the Arctic ecosystems -- is melting.
The driftwood comes from dying trees -- some from hundreds of years ago -- that fall into the large, high-latitude rivers in North America and Eurasia, which then flow into the Arctic Ocean. The wood can become trapped in the forming sea ice, which allows it to travel along the Arctic currents without sinking, making it an important intermediary for measuring the area of the ocean covered by sea ice.
The oldest Arctic sea ice is only four years old and getting younger, making it challenging for scientists to track and better understand how ice, ocean temperatures and currents have changed over time and what it signals for the future.
The study, by a team of scientists from the U.K., Iceland and Norway, measured the tree ring width of the driftwood samples and compared them to the tree ring widths from trees throughout the boreal forests to determine which country or watershed the driftwood originally came from and what type of tree it was. Scientists were even able to trace some of the driftwood to specific rivers. This allowed researchers to approximate the likely path it took across the ocean.
The results were then compared with sea ice observations from Icelandic fishers, seal hunters and passing ships, dating as far back as the 1600s and more recent data from sources including satellite images, to see if the results correlated.
The study found that older driftwood from 1700 to 1850 came from a wide range of sources -- meaning there was more sea ice carrying the fallen trees from a wider variety of places. As warming temperatures melt the Arctic sea ice, fewer driftwood can be carried in frozen ice across long distances.
“Driftwood deposits on Arctic shorelines form a unique and currently under-utilized resource for the reconstruction of sea ice transport within large-scale Arctic Ocean circulations throughout the Holocene,” the authors wrote in the study.
While using driftwood to study climate change is not new, this is the first study that examines whether it can be used to investigate past currents and ice coverage.
“It’s such a fragile system,” said the study’s lead author, University of Oxford geoscientist Georgia Hole in a statement. “If the sea ice does decline as predicted, then this will kind of be a dying field.”
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
Three officers on a U.S. Marshals Task Force serving a warrant for a felon wanted for possessing a firearm were killed and five other officers were wounded in a shootout Monday at a North Carolina home, police said.
A Calgary elementary school principal has been charged with possession of child pornography, authorities announced Monday.
The Vancouver Island Health Authority is downplaying what staff describe as a cockroach infestation in a medical unit of Saanich Peninsula Hospital.
Toronto police say 12 people are facing a combined 102 charges in connection with an investigation into a major credit fraud scheme.
One of the winners of a historic US$1.3 billion Powerball jackpot last month is an immigrant from Laos who has had cancer for eight years and had his latest chemotherapy treatment last week.
Britney Spears and her father Jamie Spears will avoid what could have been a long, ugly and revealing trial with a settlement of the lingering issues in the court conservatorship that controlled her life and financial decisions for nearly 14 years.
The clock is ticking ahead of the deadline to file a 2023 income tax return. A personal finance expert explains why you should get them done -- even if you owe more than you can pay.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.