All over the world in different countries, cultures, tongues, and colors are people who have the same basic desire for happiness and respect from his fellow men. We are the same all over as members of the human race. If we honor each other's boundaries with propriety and consideration our voyage thru life can be rich in knowledge and friendship..........AMOR PATRIAE
PEOPLE AND PLACES
All over the world in different countries, cultures, tongues, and colors are people who have the same basic desire for happiness and respect from his fellow men. We are the same all over as members of the human race. If we honor each other's boundaries with propriety and consideration our voyage thru life can be rich in knowledge and friendship..........AMOR PATRIAE
The Turin Shroud was stained with the blood of a tortured victim, new research shows - supporting the belief that it DOES show the face of Jesus
One thing that I know of that contributes to the Shroud's authenticity is the placement of the nails. The nails are placed in the wrists just below the collateral ligaments. This was the way crucifixions were carried out, placing the nails in the hands would not be able to support the body's weight. Every painting shows the nails in the hands, meaning these artists didn't know that fact. Also, the median recurrent nerves are severed in each hand; that would be consistent with proper placement of the nails as I have mentioned. No paintings show these findings, meaning this was unknown in medieval and later times
Turin Shroud mystery 'solved': Infrared tests show ancient cloth may NOT be a medieval fake after all... and could have been used to wrap Christ's body
Infra red tests dated the cloth to some time between 300BC and 400AD
The shroud will appear in a live TV broadcast on Saturday
Just in time for Easter a new study has claimed that the Shroud of Turin is a not a medieval forgery but could - in fact - be the burial shroud that was used to wrap the body of Christ. The cloth’s consistency is similar to those used to bury the dead at the time of Christ, 2,000 years ago, according to the latest scientific studies. Details of the research have emerged in a book and come ahead of Saturday's rare glimpse of the Shroud, when TV cameras will film it as part of a live broadcast ahead of Easter Sunday. Separated at birth: Split screen showing the likeness between the Turin Shroud and a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci For centuries scientists have argued about the authenticity of the Shroud - which is kept in a secure vault in Turin Cathedral - and it has become one of the most iconic images of the Roman Catholic faith. The 14ft-long linen cloth bears the faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and sides that match those suffered by Christ at his Crucifixion.The findings are in a new book called Il Mistero della Sindone (The Mystery of the Shroud) which is published on Good Friday. The authors, Professor Giulio Fanti, an expert in mechanical and thermal measurement at the University of Padua’s Engineering Faculty and journalist Saverio Gaeta, examined fibres from the Shroud and compared them to samples of cloth dating back to between 3000BC and up to the modern era to contrast them and see if it is a Medieval forgery. Key to the findings are three new tests, two chemical ones and one mechanical, the first two were carried out using infra-red light, and the other using Raman spectroscopy - which measures radiation through wavelengths and is commonly used in forensic science.
Has Turin Shroud mystery been solved? 14ft-long linen cloth, pictured above left in 1934, bears the faint image of the front and back of a tall, long-haired, bearded man and appears to be stained by blood from wounds in his feet, wrists and sides that match those suffered by Christ at his Crucifixion The results dated the fibres from the cloth to a period between 300BC to 400AD, which covers the years of Christ's life. Debate has raged whether the image is that of Christ or a fake from the Middle Ages. But what is certain is that experts have never really been able to explain how the image was made. Carbon 14 tests were conducted on the cloth in 1988 and these findings suggested it dated from between 1260 and 1390. However, some scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from water damage and fire, were not taken sufficiently into account and could have distorted the results. Since then, there have been several requests for fresh tests but Church chiefs have always refused - and this is why Professor Fanti and his team had to rely on fibres that were used in the 1988 tests. Before he retired last month pope Emeritus Benedict XVI gave permission for the Shroud to go on display as a 'last gift’ to the millions of Catholics before he retired from public office. Thirteen years ago when he was plain cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict wrote that the shroud was a ‘truly mysterious image, which no human artistry was capable of producing. In some inexplicable it appeared imprinted upon cloth...’ Italian state TV will broadcast footage of the Shroud but it is not thought that general public access will be allowed until 2025, the date of the next scheduled display. As part of the TV broadcast, a new app called Sindone 2.0 has been developed, showing a series of HD images of the shroud which highlight details of the cloth not visible to the naked eye.
WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD?
The linen cloth, believed by some to have wrapped the body of Jesus Christ, has captivated the imagination of historians, church chiefs, sceptics and Catholics for more than 500 years. There are no definite historical records concerning the shroud prior to the 14th century. Although there are numerous reports of Jesus' burial shroud, or an image of his head, of unknown origin, being venerated in various locations before the 14th century. But there is no historical evidence that these refer to the shroud currently at Turin Cathedral. A burial cloth, which some historians maintain was the Shroud, was owned by the Byzantine emperors but disappeared during the Sack of Constantinople in 1204. Historical records seem to indicate that a shroud bearing an image of a crucified man existed in the small town of Lirey around the years 1353 to 1357. It was in the possession of a French Knight, Geoffroi de Charny, who died at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. However the correspondence of this shroud with the shroud in Turin, and its very origin has been debated by scholars and lay authors, with claims of forgery attributed to artists born a century apart. Some contend that the Lirey shroud was the work of a confessed forger and murderer. The history of the shroud from the 15th century is well recorded. In 1532, the shroud suffered damage from a fire in a chapel of Chambéry, capital of the Savoy region, where it was stored. A drop of molten silver from the reliquary produced a symmetrically placed mark through the layers of the folded cloth. Poor Clare Nuns attempted to repair this damage with patches. In 1578 Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy ordered the cloth to be brought from Chambéry to Turin and it has remained at Turin ever since.
The shroud has had many notorious admirers. It even obsessed Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who wanted to steal it so he could use it in a black magic ceremony. In May 2010, five years after he became Pope, Benedict authorised a public viewing of the Shroud - the first since 2000 and also 15 years ahead of its next scheduled public display.
Turin Shroud 'was created by flash of supernatural light': It couldn't be a medieval forgery, say scientistsThe image on the Turin Shroud could not be the work of medieval forgers but was instead caused by a supernatural ‘flash of light’, according to scientists.
Italian researchers have found evidence that casts doubt on claims that the relic – said to be the burial cloth of Jesus – is a fake and they suggest that it could, after all, be authentic. Sceptics have long argued that the shroud, a rectangular sheet measuring about 14ft by 3ft, is a forgery dating to medieval times.
Scientists in Italy believe the kind of technology needed to create the Shroud of Turin simply wasn't around at the time that it was created Scientists from Italy’s National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development spent years trying to replicate the shroud’s markings. They have concluded only something akin to ultraviolet lasers – far beyond the capability of medieval forgers – could have created them.This has led to fresh suggestions that the imprint was indeed created by a huge burst of energy accompanying the Resurrection of Christ. ‘The results show a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,’ the scientists said.
WHAT IS THE TURIN SHROUD?
The Vatican owns the Turin shroud, and hails the relic as an exploration of the ‘darkest mystery of faith’. But the church has shied away from any definitive statement over whether the shroud - which is supposed to have formed Christ's burial robe - is real. The Shroud is thought to have travelled widely before it was brought to France in the 14th century by a Crusader. It was kept in a French convent for years - by nuns who patched it, and where it was damaged by fire. The Shroud was given to the Turin Archbishop in 1578 by the Duke of Savoy and has been kept in the Cathedral ever since. Carbon dating tests in 1988 dated it from between 1260 and 1390 - implying it was a fake. Scientists have since claimed that contamination over the ages from patches, water damage and fire, was not taken sufficiently into account In 1999, two Israeli scientists said plant pollen found on the Shroud supported the view that it comes from the Holy Land. There have been numerous calls for further testing but the Vatican has always refused. The image of the bearded man on the shroud must therefore have been created by ‘some form of electromagnetic energy (such as a flash of light at short wavelength)’, their report concludes. But it stops short of offering a non-scientific explanation. Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, who led the study, said: ‘When one talks about a flash of light being able to colour a piece of linen in the same way as the shroud, discussion inevitably touches on things such as miracles. ‘But as scientists, we were concerned only with verifiable scientific processes. We hope our results can open up a philosophical and theological debate.’ For centuries, people have argued about the authenticity of the shroud, which is kept in a climate-controlled case in Turin cathedral. One of the most controversial relics in the Christian world, it bears the faint image of a man whose body appears to have nail wounds to the wrists and feet. Some believe it to be a physical link to Jesus of Nazareth. For others, however, it is nothing more than an elaborate forgery. In 1988, radiocarbon tests on samples of the shroud at the University of Oxford, the University of Arizona, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology dated the cloth to the Middle Ages, between 1260 and 1390. Those tests have been disputed on the basis that they were contaminated by fibres from cloth used to repair the shroud when it was damaged by fire in the Middle Ages. More recently, further doubt was cast on its authenticity when Israeli archaeologists uncovered the first known burial shroud in Jerusalem from the time of the Crucifixion. Its weave and design are completely different from the Turin Shroud, they said. The Jerusalem shroud has a simple two-way weave – but the twill weave used on the Turin Shroud was introduced more than 1,000 years after Christ lived.
That research was disputed, however, because there was a possibility of contamination from patches of cloth that had been sewn on following a fire in Chambery, France, in 1532
The Shroud of Turin's latest findings are staggering. It is a multiple exposure and the man in the image was ALIVE AND MOVING! Was this the moment of the resurrection of Jesus? The nails in his hands and feet show they were moving, the Tefillin on his arms shows his arm was moving and his belt buckle shows he was breathing. You must watch this Nelson Walters video Eyewitness Report ofJesus' Resurrection - Pilate Wrote What the Soldiers Saw and Felt
The Resurrection of Christ, 1463-65, fresco by Piero della Francesca: The Vatican - which owns the Turin shroud - shies away from statements over whether it is real or fake, but says it helps to explore the 'darkest mysteries of faith'
The words "Yeshua (Jesus) the Nazarene" were found hidden in the image of the Shroud of Turin, the infamous cloth that supposedly holds the image of Jesus at the moment of His resurrection. These words were only found when the image was examined by a visualization program on a computer. Only then were they visible. How did those words get on the image? Are they related to an ancient Roman practice of the day? What other evidence is there that the Shroud is authentic? Watch this Nelson Walters Holy Week video for incredible answers. Carbon dating tests carried out in 1988 in Oxford, Zurich and Arizona suggested that the shroud was created some time between 1260 and 1390
Since the mid-fourteenth century. a long piece of linen has been the object of an ongoing controversy. On it, we can see the image of a man with all the markings of the crucifixion. For the devout, it is the authentic shroud of Christ. For skeptics, this relic is merely an icon produced by some genius, a medieval con artist. Follow researcher Christian Page in his quest to unveil the history of the Holy Relics of Christianity as he travels through time in some of the world's greatest cities: Jerusalem, Istanbul, Paris, Vienna, and Rome. Without the dedication of some historical figures and unknown devotees, these Holy Treasures may have never made their way into the modern world. Since the beginning of Christianity, relics attributed to saints or Christ Himself have had a great symbolic and spiritual value, stirring passion amongst believers. With the assistance of some of the world's leading experts in archaeology, history, theology, genetics, engineering, and molecular physics, this series embarks on a privileged visit to the sites where each event took place.
HOLY TURIN SHROUD MYSTERY
Turin Shroud is stained with the blood of a torture victim, new research shows - supporting the belief that it DOES show the face of Jesus
Experts claim there is blood on the Shroud which is not typical of healthy person
They say it contains creatinine and ferritin, found in those who suffered trauma
The findings contradict claims that the Shroud was painted by Medieval forgers
The shroud is currently being displayed at St John the Baptist Cathedral in Turin
Experts have claimed the Shroud of Turin is stained with the blood of a torture victim, supporting claims it was used to bury Jesus.
They say the linen cloth, believed to have been used to wrap Christ's body after crucifixion, contains 'nanoparticles' which are not typical of the blood of a healthy person.
The alleged findings contradict claims the face of Jesus was painted on by forgers in medieval times.
shows the Holy Shroud, a 14 foot-long linen revered by some as the burial cloth of Jesus, displayed at the Cathedral of Turin, Italy. The long linen with the faded image of a bearded man is the object of centuries-old fascination and wonderment, and closely kept under wrap. Now, for six weeks, both the curious and those convinced the Turin Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ can have a brief look. By late March, 1.3 million people had reserved their three-to-five-minute chance to gaze at the cloth, which is kept in a bulletproof, climate-controlled case. Organizers said earlier this year they hoped some 2 million pilgrims and tourists would see the linen during the special viewing from Saturday April 10 to May 23.
The Turin Shroud DOES have miraculous powers... whether it is genuine or not
Italian scientists claim shroud was created by 'supernatural event' as burst of ultra-violet light necessary to leave imprint on cloth wasn't then possible
Implication from research is that image of Jesus was scorched onto linen by divinely generated light given out by His body
Shroud believers welcome new scientific research 'proving' its existence
But Vatican still refuses to comment on the long-running saga
Puzzle: The Turin Shroud's origin is endlessly debated. Still, the Catholic Church has placed the cloth in a cathedral as an object of worship The Catholic Church has never publicly accepted or rejected popular belief that the Turin Shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. But it has done everything short of that to encourage devotion to this ancient piece of linen, on display in Turin Cathedral, which bears the markings of a man who appears to have been crucified. The extraordinary sepia image on the cloth is simply — as Pope Benedict XVI likes to put it in that careful, precise way of his — ‘an image that reminds us always of Christ’s suffering’. Yet, this week, a group of Italian scientists claimed the shroud was created by a ‘supernatural event’ rather than the machinations of medieval forgers. The academics concluded that the sort of burst of ultra-violet light necessary to have left such an imprint on the cloth just wasn’t possible by any human endeavour in any age other than our own technically advanced one with its access to lasers. The implication of their findings is that the image was scorched on to the linen as a result of a divinely generated light given out by Jesus’s body when he rose from the dead. Believers in the shroud hail the research by scientists at Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) as proof that it is genuinely the cloth of Christ. They claim it backs up the work of a group of American scientists from the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) from the Seventies.
These scientists established by careful analysis of the fibres of the cloth that the image of the bearded, crucified man had not been painted on to the cloth. It was not, they concluded, ‘a natural formation’. Science, say the believers, appears to have provided no reasonable answer to counter the belief of generations of Christians that this is the image of Christ on the shroud in which his body was wrapped when it was taken down from the cross. Scientists in Italy believe the kind of technology needed to create the Shroud of Turin simply wasn't around at the time that it was created. Still the Vatican steadfastly refuses to be drawn again into the saga And yet, despite this latest research supposedly proving its authenticity, the Vatican has steadfastly refused to be drawn again into the long-running saga of the shroud. The question is why. Why, if the science seems so certain, won’t the Catholic Church endorse this piece of cloth as the genuine article? One reason is that the new research still cannot get round the main stumbling block when it comes to proving the shroud’s authenticity. In 1988, three separate and internationally acclaimed laboratories in Zurich, Oxford and Arizona carbon-dated samples of the cloth, provided by the Church, and came up with 1260 to 1390 as its probable date of origin. In other words, that research showed it to be a medieval forgery. And in the 23 years since, the best that the shroud’s devotees have come up with to counter this incontrovertible fact is a theory that all three samples that were carbon-dated were contaminated — that they contained rogue fibres from later medieval attempts to patch and mend the original shroud. There are plenty of papers that try to make this thesis stand up, but the overall impression is of whistling in the wind. So why do people flock to see the shroud on the rare occasions it is put on public show in its glass, climate- controlled display case? The most straightforward answer is that we like a mystery and this one is about as tantalising as it gets. For just as the Church has never felt able to pronounce definitively on the shroud, neither has science come up with a water-tight theory as to exactly what it is and how the image came about. The shroud therefore exists in a kind of middle ground — where we can all pronounce our own verdict. But once you start considering the possibilities of how it was created, you immediately get in a tangle. If it is a medieval forgery, then how can its image have been created by methods beyond the wit of humankind at that time? Why do people flock to see the shroud? We like mystery. Since neither the church nor science have come up with a definitive answer, the shroud exists in middle ground, where we can make our own verdict One of the most intriguing aspects is that the image of Christ is hard to pick out with the naked eye in the sepia markings on the cloth, which is 4½m long and just over a metre in width. But, when at the very end of the 19th century, a photographic negative of the image was first produced, it looked every inch like the face of Christ. How could a medieval forger have produced something so exact 500 years before the technology existed to make a negative image? Yet the sceptics could easily counter this with an argument of their own. Even if the shroud is really 2,000 years old and the carbon-dating laboratories mistaken, they point out what is there to link it to Jesus? Crucifixion was a common method of putting criminals to death back under the Romans. This might just as well be the funeral wrappings of a run-of-the-mill murderer or thief. Indeed, one theory popular among supporters of the medieval forgery theory is that it was made centuries after the death of Christ by crucifying someone in exactly the same manner as described in the Gospel accounts and then wrapping the victim in a shroud. The further you go into this mystery, the murkier the waters become. And if you go so far as to visit Turin (for 500 years the shroud belonged to the locally based royal house of Savoy) and stand in front of the display case, there is undeniably a certain awe about this object. The Resurrection of Christ, 1463-65, fresco by Piero della Francesca: The Vatican - which owns the Turin shroud - shies away from statements over whether it is real or fake, but says it helps to explore the 'darkest mysteries of faith' It springs, to my mind, not from any air of authenticity that the object itself radiates, but from the knowledge that for centuries people have been making precisely the same pilgrimage as I and so many others have done to gaze at this piece of cloth. It stems from the fact that they have harboured exactly the same hopes that by doing so, somehow, they will be able to reach a final conclusion on the truth or not of the very claims of Christianity. How comforting it would be to know, for sure, if there is a God. What is important today about the shroud is not whether it is genuinely the burial cloth of Jesus — we are never going to reach a consensus on that — but rather that over many centuries people have believed in it. It is this history of belief that is the really powerful thing. At a stroke it carries us back through centuries of Christianity and connects our sceptical, secular and scientific age with an earlier epoch of miracles and faith. This is why the Catholic Church refuse to be drawn on the Turin Shroud. As Pope Benedict says, it is an extraordinarily powerful image of Christ’s suffering — and made so because of the faith people have in it, whether it is genuine or not. On its own, the shroud is never going to be enough to legitimise belief in the core tenet of Christianity — the Resurrection of Jesus. But nevertheless, it is a powerful focus for our thoughts on the subject — a symbol of the hopes of so many who embrace Christianity without any conclusive proof other than their own belief. And that, surely, is the point about religion — a point we are in danger of missing now that every belief and theory is judged to be worthless unless it can be put under a microscope by scientists and proved, irrefutably, to be true. Some things, some important things, just don’t fit into this rigid, logical model of the world. Science, as the saga of the shroud epitomises, can never get to the bottom of faith. The shocking discovery of Pilates Letter to Caesar describes the true Face of Jesus Christ. In addition, Pontius Pilates Stone Proves the existence of Jesus Christ. This bible story and bible study reveals a surprising hidden secret about the true physical attributes and true face of Jesus Christ? What was Jesus skin color? What was the color and nature of Jesus hair? How did he speak? What did Jesus really look like? All these and more are revealed in the letter of Pilate about Jesus, the Christ, and the savior of the world.
Eternal Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ - in atonement for our sins and for the sins of the whole world because of His bitter suffering, have mercy on the whole world.
":Oh dearest Jesus lamb of God most meek, I am a miserable sinner render homage and worship to the wounds upon thy shoulder which cause thee greatest suffering among thy other wounds, caused by the unmeasurable weight of the Cross. Vouchsafe to grant me to have mercy and forgive me, my mortal and venial sins and guide me on to Heaven thru the Way of the Cross. Amen"
ON THE BRINK OF A NEW WAR ACROSS GREENLAND ; WHY THE TRUMP INTEREST
Across Greenland's vast white landscape, small teams of researchers from around the world are searching for clues about the potential effects of global warming on Greenland's ice. They're measuring the movement of glaciers, the density of the snow pack, the thickness of the ice and more, trying to gauge how much will melt and when. Greenland's Inuit people have been witness to the rapidly changing landscape. The Inuit have countless terms in their language to describe ice in all its varieties, and its disappearance directly affects their lives. Associated Press photographer Brennan Linsley recently spent some time on the massive Arctic island, documenting the researchers, the residents, and the varied ice that dominates the landscape. Greenland: A Global Warming Laboratory
As the sea levels around the globe rise, researchers affiliated with the National Science Foundation and other organizations are studying the phenomena of melting glaciers and the long-term ramifications. Rapid warming at the summit of the Greenland ice sheet has caused year after year of record melting at the surface, raising concern, even as recent research indicates the ice sheet has endured warmer periods. The warmer temperatures that have had an effect on the glaciers in Greenland also have altered the ways in which the local populace farm, fish, hunt and even travel across land. Getty Images photojournalist Joe Raedle traveled north recently, spending two weeks documenting the scientists tracking Greenland's transformation, as well as some of the spectacular scenery and residents engaged in their daily lives.
The village of Ilulissat is seen near the icebergs that broke off from the Jakobshavn Glacier, on July 24, 2013 in Ilulissat, Greenland. Researchers affiliated with the National Science Foundation and other organizations are studying the phenomena of melting glaciers and its long-term ramifications. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Professor David Noone from the University of Colorado uses a snow pit to study the layers of ice in the glacier at Summit Station, on July 11, 2013 on the Glacial Ice Sheet, Greenland. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Water stands on part of the glacial ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of Greenland, on July 17, 2013. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The Thule United States Air Base was opened on 1941 when Greenland gave the complete control of their security in the US making it the only military station of the United States in the northern part of the world. From a simple weather station in 19151, it became an airbase whose prime mission is to act as the refueling station for atomic carrier bombers from North America to Europe. This is the where the radio communication systems, missile warning and spy systems for Soviet Defenses were established.
At present, Thule Air Base is the base for the 821st Air Base Group whose mission is to provide support within the air base area and provides home to the 12th Space Warning Squadron, a missile warning site which is used by the Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in the detection and tracking of the launches made against North America. Thule is also home to the 22nd Space operations Squadron which is a division of the 50th Space Wing responsible for the operation of their satellite network as well as in the operation of the newly acquired weapons. The airbase is proud of their runway which measures 3,047 by 42 meters and the 2,600 international flights made each year.
Thule is proud of the Globecom Tower which is tallest construction in the Western hemisphere which stands 378 meters tall. This is also where the deep water port in the northernmost part of the world is located and the only air force base with a tugboat whose function is to assists the ships when they dock in the harbor during the winter and summer season. The airbase is supplied by a heavy ship once a year during the summer when the ice thins out which they call the operation Pacer Goose. Thule Air Base employed 600 personnel, most of which are Danish and American active duty servicemen.
Fisherman Nikolaj Sandgreen works near icebergs that broke off from the Jakobshavn Glacier, on July 22, 2013 in Ilulissat, Greenland.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A boat cruises past icebergs from the Jakobshavn Glacier, as the sun reaches its lowest point of the day on July 23, 2013 in Ilulissat.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Jason Briner, with the University of Buffalo Department of Geology, looks for the right spot to gather samples of granite to research the age of the local glacial retreat, on July 24, 2013 near Ilulissat. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Jason Briner, with the University of Buffalo, uses a hammer and chisel to gather samples of granite to research the age of the local glacial retreat, on July 24, 2013 near Ilulissat. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Kurt Burnham, President and CEO, High Arctic Institute, holds a Peregrine Falcon chick as he studies the possible effects climate change has on bird populations in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, on July 10, 2013. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
A full moon, over an iceberg from the Jakobshavn Glacier, on July 23, 2013 near Ilulissat. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Denmark stakes claim to North Pole thanks to Greenland ridge, as three-way battle for vast Arctic oil and gas deposits hots up
The 1,800km-long Lomonosov Ridge runs beneath the Arctic Ocean, connecting Greenland's continental shelf with the North Pole
The region is thought to hold 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and 30 per cent of its untapped natural gas
Danish foreign minister Martin Lidegaard will today deliver a claim to a United Nations panel in New York
Denmark the latest of the five Arctic countries to make a play for the pole, with Canada and Russia having already staked claimsIt’s now a three-way battle for ownership of the North Pole, as Denmark revealed it will take on Canada and Russia amid claims its Greenland territory is connected to the pole via a ridge beneath the Arctic Ocean.
Huge, sparsely populated Greenland is semi-autonomous Danish territory and its continental shelf is linked to the pole by the 1,800km-long Lomonosov Ridge, which runs beneath the Arctic Ocean.
Foreign minister Martin Lidegaard will today deliver a claim to a United Nations panel in New York, as Denmark becomes the latest country to make a play for the vast untapped oil and gas reserves thought to lie beneath the ice.
The Lomonosov Ridge (shown in dark blue) links Greenland's continental shelf with the North Pole. The red dotted line shows the extent of the five Arctic countries' claims on the region under existing international law, which allows them to claim ownership of land up to 200 miles from their northern borders
Sea ice in a Greenland fjord. The vast island is connected to the North Pole via a ridge
below the Arctic Ocean
A Greenpeace team heads for the North Pole. The Lomonosov Ridge connects the abstract spot to Greenland
Melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. Global warming is opening up opportunities to tap new mineral resources
Danish soldiers next to a Danish flag on Hans Island, between Greenland and Canada. Denmark has today staked a claim to fly its flag over the North Pole.
The five Arctic countries — the United States, Russia, Norway, Canada and Denmark — all have areas surrounding the North Pole, but only Canada and Russia had indicated an interest in it before Denmark's claim.
Lidegaard told the Associated Press that the Arctic nations had so far ' stuck to the rules of the game' and he hoped they would continue to do so.
In 2008, the five pledged that control of the North Pole region would be decided in an orderly settlement within the framework of the UN, and possible overlapping claims would be dealt with bilaterally.Interest in the Arctic is intensifying as global warming shrinks the polar ice, opening up possible resource development and new shipping lanes.
The area is believed to hold an estimated 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 per cent of its untapped gas.
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Danish Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard will today take his country's claim to the North Pole to the UN
Lidegaard said he expects no quick decisions, with other countries also sending in claims.
He said: 'This is a historical milestone for Denmark and many others as the area has an impact on the lives of lot of people.
‘After the UN panel had taken a decision based on scientific data, comes a political process.
'I expect this to take some time. An answer will come in a few decades.'
Between 2007 and 2012, Danish scientists with colleagues from Canada, Sweden and Russia surveyed a 2,000km (1,240-mile)-long underwater mountain range that runs north of Siberia.
They concluded that Greenland is geologically attached to the ridge.
That prompted the Danes to claim the right to exploit an area of 345,600 square miles (895,00 square kilometres).
Christian Marcussen, a senior geophysicist with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, said: 'The Lomonosov ridge is the natural extension of the Greenland shelf.
'Coincidentally, the North Pole which is a tiny, tiny abstract spot lies in the area.'
Under international law, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the US - the five countries with territories near the Arctic Circle - are allotted 200 nautical miles of territory stretching from their northern coasts.
However, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, exclusive claims can be vastly expanded for countries that can prove their part of the continental shelf extends beyond that zone.
In 2007, Russia sent a submarine to plant a flag 14,000ft beneath the ice of the North Pole in an audacious bid to lay claim to the resource-rich Arctic.
Last year, Canada applied to extend the borders of its seabed in the Atlantic Ocean, including extensions into the Arctic seafloor covering roughly 656,000 square miles (1.7 million sq km).
This is roughly the size of Alberta and the Saskatchewan region combined.
Now Denmark has made its move, claiming 345,600 square miles (895,000 square kilometres) of new territory.
David Shean, a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington, looks at a canyon created over time by a meltwater stream on July 16, 2013 on Greenland's glacial ice sheet. Shean along with other scientists are using Global Positioning System sensors to closely monitor the evolution of surface lakes and the motion of the surrounding ice sheet. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
A tent, near the worksite of scientists Sarah Das from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Ian Joughin of the University of Washington along with their team, as they conduct research on July 15, 2013 on the glacial ice sheet. The scientists set up Global Positioning System sensors to closely monitor the evolution of the surface lakes and the motion of the surrounding ice sheet and have uncovered a plumbing system for the ice sheet, where meltwater can penetrate thick, cold ice and accelerate some of the large-scale summer movements of the ice sheet. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Air bubbles in a puddle of surface melt in the glacial ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of the Greenland on July 15, 2013.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Sarah Das from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution looks at a canyon created by a meltwater stream on July 16, 2013 on the glacial ice sheet. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
Laura Stevens, graduate student from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, walks past a meltwater lake on July 16, 2013. She along with a group of scientists closely monitor the evolution of the surface lakes and the motion of the surrounding ice sheet. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
A person walks through the village of Qeqertaq, Greenland, on July 20, 2013. As Greenlanders adapt to the changing climate and go on with their lives, researchers from the National Science Foundation and other organizations are studying the phenomena of the melting glaciers and its long-term ramifications for the rest of the world. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
On the day of their wedding, Ottilie Olsen and Adam Olsen (left) pose for a picture in Qeqertaq, Greenland, on July 20, 2013.(Joe Raedle/Getty Images) #
The village of Ilulissat, near icebergs from Jakobshavn Glacier, on July 24, 2013. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
A cold snap in Greenland in the 12th century may help explain why Viking settlers vanished from the island, scientists claim. Researchers reconstructed temperatures by examining lake sediment cores in west Greenland dating back 5,600 years. Their findings indicated that earlier, pre-historic settlers also had to contend with vicious swings in climate on icy Greenland. Scientists reconstructed temperatures by examining lake sediment cores in west Greenland dating back 5,600 years. They found that a cold snap probably drove the Vikings settlers from the island in the 12th century Average temperatures plunged 4C (7F) in just 80 years from about 1100. Such a shift is roughly the equivalent of the current average temperatures in Edinburgh tumbling to match those in Reykjavik, Iceland. It would have been a huge setback to crop and livestock production. Lead researcher Dr William D'Andrea, of Brown University, Rhode Island, said: 'Climate played (a) big role in Vikings' disappearance from Greenland. 'There is a definite cooling trend in the region right before the Norse disappear.'
Researchers have scant written or archaeological records to work out why Viking settlers abandoned colonies on the western side of the island in the mid-1300s and the eastern side in the early 1400s. Conflicts with indigenous Inuit, a search for better hunting grounds, economic stresses and natural swings in climate, perhaps caused by shifts in the sun's output or volcanic eruptions, could all be factors. Scientists have previously suspected that a cooling towards a Little Ice Age from the 1400s gradually shortened growing seasons and added to sea ice that hampered sailing links with Iceland or the Nordic nations. Vikings arrived in Greenland in the 980s, during a warm period like the present The study, by scientists in the U.S. and Britain, added the previously unknown 12th century temperature plunge as a possible trigger for the colonies' demise. Vikings arrived in Greenland in the 980s, during a warm period like the present. Dr D'Andrea said: 'You have an interval when the summers are long and balmy and you build up the size of your farm, and then suddenly year after year, you go into this cooling trend, and the summers are getting shorter and colder and you can't make as much hay.' The study, published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also traced even earlier swings in the climate to the rise and fall of pre-historic peoples on Greenland starting with the Saqqaq culture, which thrived from about 4,500 years ago to 2,800 years ago. Scientists fear that the 21st century warming is caused by climate change, stoked by a build-up of greenhouse gases from human activities. An acceleration of warming could cause a meltdown of the Greenland ice sheet, raising world sea levels. These incredible photographs look more like a scene from the end of the world than a winter sunrise. The dramatic pictures were taken in north west Greenland by British Arctic photographers Bryan and Cherry Alexander and show a storm brewing over an Inuit community. Clouds gather over Inglefield Bay at dawn, which in Greenland occurs at about 10am during the winter The award-winning photographic pair were staying in Qaanaaq, about 800 miles from the North Pole, when the apocalyptic cloud colouring began over Inglefield Bay. 'It was just before dawn, around 10am, when an Inuit friend of mine whose house I was staying in came to my room and suggested that I take a look at the sky,' Mr Cherry said. 'I went outside and was stunned by the beautiful and dramatic cloud formation. I just couldn't believe my eyes. I have worked in the Arctic regularly for the past 37 years and I had never seen the sky like it.' The pictures show a thin layer of medium-level cloud that has been pummeled by winds churned up between the glaciers below. 'You often see clouds repeating the shape of the ground below,' a spokeswoman from the Met Office said. 'The wind comes in from one side, is lifted up over the mountains and hits the clouds before coming down again. It's a dramatic example of what is known as an orographic effect.' The angle of the rising sun helped to highlight the different colours and intricate patterns. An elderly Inuit hunter said he had never seen such a sky before in all his life 'It looked apocalyptic and like a scene from one of the Lord of the Rings movies,' Mr Cherry said. 'Because of the northern winter, the sun rises later and later the nearer you are to the North Pole. That's why even though the pictures were taken at dawn, it was actually ten in the morning.' For Mr Cherry, it was a once-in-a-lifetime photographic event. The drama, above, lasted about an hour and then dissolved, leaving behind a normal, cloudy autumn day He said: 'I grabbed my cameras and photographed for about an hour as the cloud formation changed and the colour of the clouds turned from grey to pink as the rising sun's rays caught them. 'An hour or so later the drama was gone and it became just another cloudy autumn day in North Greenland.' But it was not just the Alexanders who were blown away by the natural wonder unfolding in front of them. Mr Cherry said: 'Just about everybody in the village was amazed, including an elderly Inuit hunter who told me that he had never seen anything like that before in his life.' The Alexanders have travelled to the region almost every year since the early 1970s, exploring it extensively to document the life of the North's native peoples. However, in all that time they said they had never seen anything close to the incredible skies they witnessed this autumn.
Floating ice, left over from broken-up icebergs shed from the Greenland ice sheet, nearly covers the seafront in Ilulissat, Greenland, on July 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Ridges formed by pressure shape the surface of Jakobshavn Glacier, near the edge of the vast Greenland ice sheet, on July 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Inuit hunter Nukappi Brandt steers his small boat as he and his daughter Aaneeraq, 9, scan the water for seals, accompanied by his other daughter Luusi, 8, outside Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island, Greenland, on July 21, 2011. Brandt, 49, has been a hunter since age 14, and said roughly 20 years ago, when winter sea ice became too thin to support dogsleds, seal hunting ceased to be a sustainable way of life here. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Portraits of Inuits from Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island, Greenland, taken on July 22, 2011. Clockwise from top left: Johan Lindenhann (hunter), Elizabeth Petersen, 14 (student), Nukappi Brandt, 49, (hunter), Knud Hansen, 66, (hunter), Ane-Katrine Brandt, 8, Malik Leander, 17 (shrimp boat crew member). (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Daughters of Greenlandic Inuit hunter Nukappi Brandt, Aaneeraq, 9, right, and Luusi, 8, ride their bicycles home late at night after an unsuccessful seal hunt with their father in Qeqertarsuaq, Disko Island, Greenland, on July 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
A Greenland sled dog pup touches his mother's nose in Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, on July 21, 2011. According to many Greenlanders, roughly 20 years ago winter sea ice became too thin to support dogsleds, and seal hunting ceased to be a sustainable way of life here. Some hunters, who relied on winter game to feed their sled dogs, have been unable to continue to support large numbers of dogs, and have been shooting them. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
A narwhal tusk from a hunt hangs alongside miniature replicas of traditional kayaking and hunting tools adorning a wall above a television set inside the home of an Inuit family in Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, on July 20, 2011. Whales have long been central part of Inuit life in Greenland, where a regulated subsistence hunt continues to this day. As the world warms, the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, thinning the winter sea ice many Greenlanders have relied on as a hunting platform and for travel, and affecting life in Greenland in many other ways. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Inuit family members from left, Estrella Brandt, holding her daughter Noelle, Louise Brand and their mother, Rosa Marie Brandt laugh during Rosa Marie's husband's 50th birthday party at their home in Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, on July 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Inuit hunter Nukappi Brandt aims his rifle to shoot a seal, which dived underwater before he could get off a shot, as his daughter Luusi, 8, keeps low inside their small boat outside Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, on July 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
A melting iceberg floats along a fjord leading away from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet near Nuuk, Greenland, on July 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
An Inuit fisherman pulls in a fish from a sea filled with floating ice left over from broken-up icebergs shed from the Greenland ice sheet in Ilulissat, Greenland, on July 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
The 53,000 ton Leiv Eiriksson oil rig, off the coast of Greenland, recently scaled by activists from Greenpeace in an attempt to stop the Scottish oil company Cairn Energy from starting deepwater drilling in the arctic waters. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, Steve Morgan) #
A vein of highly-compacted clear blue ice is seen on the surface of an iceberg melting off Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, on July 21, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
A Greenlandic Inuit hunter and fisherman steers his boat past a melting iceberg, along a fjord leading away from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, near Nuuk, Greenland, on July 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
A melting iceberg floats along a fjord leading away from the edge of the Greenland ice sheet near Nuuk, Greenland, on July 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
This July 26, 2011 aerial photo shows the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, right, adjacent to a series of lakes in central Greenland. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Attached by rope to a waiting helicopter, Arctic researcher Carl Gladish of New York University hammers a steel stake into ice, securing a newly-deployed GPS seismometer, or Geopebble, designed to track glacial movement near the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, atop Jakobshavn Glacier, outside Ilulissat, Greenland, on July 19, 2011. The chief researcher, NYU's David Holland, hopes to eventually deploy scores of the devices to help measure ice loss in Greenland. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
A cloud drifts past the ever-collapsing calving 6-kilometer-wide (4-mile-wide) front of Jakobshavn Glacier, situated at the edge of the vast Greenland ice sheet, near Ilulissat, Greenland, on July 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
On the world's longest ice runway, 16,800 feet long, a logistics worker stands ready to refuel an incoming New York Air National Guard C-130 transport plane mounted with landing skis, at Summit Station, a small research center situated 10,500 feet above sea level, on top of the Greenland ice sheet, on July 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
The main building at Summit Station, a remote research site operated by the U.S. National Science Foundation, (NSF), situated 10,500 feet above sea level, on top of the Greenland ice sheet, seen on July 15, 2011. The structure is periodically jacked up on its support columns to stay above accumulating snow. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Atop roughly two miles of ice, with sleeping tents visible in the background, Dartmouth College engineering graduate Suk-Joon Lee helps test a prototype wheeled Arctic robot being developed for long-range instrument deployment, at Summit Station, on top of the Greenland ice sheet, on July 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Floating ice fills a series of inlets at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet, outside Ilulissat, Greenland, on July 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Liz Morris, 64, of Cambridge University's Scott Polar Research Institute, at Summit Station, on top of the Greenland ice sheet, days before a month-long, 500-mile research trip via snowmobile, photographed on July 15, 2011. Morris' research trip is funded by Britain's National Environmental Research Council and mounted with the U.S. National Science Foundation's cooperation. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth honored the intrepid Morris with a Polar Medal, given in recognition of distinguished service in Arctic and Antarctic exploration. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
During leisure hours, researchers gather atop nearly two miles of ice, at Summit Station, on top of the Greenland ice sheet, on July 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
Icebergs shed from the Greenland ice sheet float near Ilulissat, Greenland, on July 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) #
The midnight sun illuminates an iceberg, among the many shed daily into the sea from the Jakobshavn Glacier, on July 19, 2011 in Ilulissat, Greenland. Greenland is the focus of many researchers trying to determine how much its melting ice may raise sea levels. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
A 100 kilometre-wide crater has been found in Greenland, the result of a massive asteroid impact a billion years before any other known collision on Earth. The previously oldest known crater on Earth formed two billion years ago and the chances of finding an even older impact were thought to be astronomically low. Now, a team of scientists from the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) in Copenhagen, Cardiff University in Wales, Lund University in Sweden and the Institute of Planetary Science in Moscow has upset these odds. Explosive: This simulated image shows how the impact would have looked - it would have wiped out all forms of higher life if it happened later in Earth's history
Hidden in the runes: Evidence came in the form of broken-up, contorted, melted and hydrothermally altered rocks affected by the impact and influx of sea-water during the impact The spectacular craters on the Moon formed from impacts with asteroids and comets betweenthree3 and four billion years ago. The early Earth, with its far greater gravitational mass, must have experienced even more collisions at this time - but the evidence has been eroded away or covered by younger rocks. Following a detailed programme of fieldwork, funded by GEUS and the Danish ‘Carlsbergfondet’ (Carlsberg Foundation), the team have discovered the remains of a giant three billion-year-old impact near the Maniitsoq region of West Greenland.
'This single discovery means that we can study the effects of cratering on the Earth nearly a billion years further back in time than was possible before,” according to Dr Iain McDonald of Cardiff University’s School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, who was part of the team. It is possible or even likely that the meteorite hit the sea, for the preserved rocks have been intensely altered by circulating hot aqueus fluids. These fluids were likely derived from sea water that would have been able to penetrate deep into the Earth's crust through the numerous fissures and crush zones generated by the impact. Boris A. Ivanov at the Institute of Planetary Science, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, has carried out a series of provisional model calculations, which suggest that the impacting meteorite at Maniitsoq may have had a diameter of more than 30 km, i.e., about twice the size of the Vredefort meteorite and with a mass about ten times larger. If this meteorite had hit the Moon, the final crater structure would have had a diameter well above 1000km and easily visible from Earth. However, due to the much stronger gravity of our planet, the Maniitsoq structure may have had a diameter of 'only' some 500-600km
Clues: Finnefjeld mountain, which is around 1050m high, is believed to be the crushed core of the structure
The dull grey rocks were crushed to fine powder by the impact, and then cut by white melt sheets Making an impact: The asteroid is believed to have hit close to where the town of Maniitsoq in Greenland If an impact of this size hit the Earth today, it would not only be able to pulverise a medium-sized national state but its global effects would also kill all higher life. Then, three billion years ago, there was not much life to extinguish, but as yet no depositional rocks of matching age have yet been identified that could enlighten the effects of the Maniitsoq impact such as extreme tsunamis, deposition of re-condensated atmospheric glass particles from the evaporated meteorite or other signs of global atmospheric and marine effects. Finding the evidence was made all the harder because there is no obvious bowl-shaped crater left to find. Over the three billion years since the impact, the land has been eroded down to expose deeper crust 25km below the original surface. All external parts of the impact structure have been removed, but the effects of the intense impact shock wave penetrated deep into the crust - far deeper than at any other known crater - and these remain visible. However, because the effects of impact at these depths have never been observed before it has taken nearly three years of painstaking work to assemble all the key evidence.
THE MYSTERY OF EARTH'S MISSING CRATER IMPACTS
If you look at the Moon on a clear night through a pair of ordinary, hand-held binoculars, you'll see a multitude of meteorite craters. Some are larger than 1000 km in diameter and readily visible with the naked eye. Through the first 500 million years of Solar System history, both the Moon and the Earth were constantly bombarded with a multitude of small and large meteorites and comets. Some scientists even think that life was brought to the Earth by comets. The Moon has preserved the remains of thousands of impacts, but on Earth only about 180 such impact structures are known, and most of them are very small, young and repidly decaying. Contrary to the Moon, the Earth is a dynamic planet with plate tectonics, mountain belts and erosion, which means that most impact structures are eroded away, destroyed by mountain building processes or buried by younger deposits over geological time. Until recently, the 2.02 billion years old and 300 km wide Vredefort crater in South Africa was considered to be both the oldest and largest impact structure on Earth. It is estimated that the impacting meteorite had a diameter of about 15 km. During the development of the final crater structure, a kilometre-thick layer of sedimentary rocks containing the World's largest gold deposits collapsed into the cavity excavated by the meteorite and in this way became protected from erosion and preserved until today. Also the second largest impact structure on Earth, the 1.85 billion years old Sudbury crater in Canada, hosts world-class mineral deposits - in this case nickel-rich minerals that were melted and concentrated by the extreme heating caused by the impact. from GEUS 'The process was rather like a Sherlock Holmes story,' said Dr McDonald. 'We eliminated the impossible in terms of any conventional terrestrial processes, and were left with a giant impact as the only explanation for all of the facts.' Only around 180 impact craters have ever been discovered on Earth and around 30 per cent of them contain important natural resources of minerals or oil and gas. The largest and oldest known crater prior to this study, the 300 kilometre wide Vredefort crater in South Africa, is 2 billion years in age and heavily eroded. Dr McDonald added that 'It has taken us nearly three years to convince our peers in the scientific community of this but the mining industry was far more receptive. A Canadian exploration company has been using the impact model to explore for deposits of nickel and platinum metals at Maniitsoq since the autumn of 2011.' The international team was led by Adam A. Garde, senior research scientist at GEUS. The first scientific paper documenting the discovery has just been published in the journal ‘Earth and Planetary Science Letters’.
Water stands on part of the glacial ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of Greenland, on July 17, 2013. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) 
