Greenland

Businessmen float idea of shipping Greenlandic water to Iqaluit

Businessmen float idea of shipping Greenlandic water to Iqaluit

Two Toronto entrepreneurs say they have a solution to Iqaluit’s water supply needs: They’ll ship it in from Greenland. Fred Grootarz and Mark Albert want to use tankers to transport the water to Iqaluit’s port, where it would be stored year-round in electrically heated tanks. Albert calls the plan “a perfect fit” for Iqaluit.

Arctic Ocean was once a tub of fresh water covered with a half-mile of ice

Arctic Ocean was once a tub of fresh water covered with a half-mile of ice

The Arctic Ocean was once a pool of fresh water capped with an ice shelf half as thick as the Grand Canyon is deep. If that's hard to envision, don't despair. Scientists were surprised at the discovery, published Wednesday (Feb. 3) in the journal Nature, as well. The trick to envisioning this odd arrangement is to think about the relationship between ice sheets and the ocean. When ice sheets melt, they dump water into the ocean, raising the sea level. But when ice sheets grow, as they have during Earth's glacial periods, sea level drops.