The 2012 Iditarod sled dog race begins today!

by Kraig Becker on

The 2012 Iditarod sled dog race gets underway this morning with the ceremonial start taking place on the streets of Anchorage, Alaska. The annual event, dubbed the “Last Great Race,” pits some of the best mushers in the world against one another on a course that stretches for nearly a thousand miles across remote wilderness before eventually ending in Nome.

This morning the 66 men and women who have entered the competition will set out on the first leg of the race – an 11-mile run that ends at nearby Campbell Airstrip. From there they’ll pack up their dogs and sleds and be transported by motor vehicle to the town of Willow, where the race will officially get underway tomorrow. Ahead of them is a 975 mile course — which is slightly shorter than previous years — that will test both their physical and mental endurance.

Amongst the contenders for this year’s race are defending champ John Baker and Iditarod veteran Hugh Neff, who is coming off a big win at last month’s Yukon Quest. Legendary mushers Lance Mackey and Jeff King are back as well and both are always a threat to finish first in Nome. Former champ Mitch Seavey has returned for another run too, as has his 74-year old father Dan and 24-year old son Dallas.

The fastest sled dog team is expected to reach the finish line in approximately eight to ten days depending on weather and trail conditions. Unlike many of the lower 48 states, Alaska has actually had quite a bit of snow this year which could slow down some of the teams that will be breaking trail. Still, covering 975 miles of remote wilderness during winter in less than two week’s time is an impressive feat.

Good luck to all the competitors.

[Photo credit: Zeledi via WikiMedia]

Traveling turtle finds new home in Arizona

by Chris Owen on

Green Sea Turtles travel great distances in their lifetime with a range that reaches as far north as the southern coast of Alaska and as far south as Chile. In the water. On land is an unlikely place to find a sea turtle but this week one will settle into her new permanent home at the Sea Life aquarium in Tempe, Arizona.

The green sea turtle, Ziva, sustained serious injuries after being struck by a boat off the coast of Florida in 2010. Ziva has spent the past two years receiving treatment and rehabilitation at the internationally acclaimed Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC). She sustained such extensive damage to her shell and skull that she requires specialized weights to swim and dive correctly. Because of these injuries, Ziva will never be healthy enough to survive in the wild but Sea Life Arizona will provide her a safe and permanent home and will ensure she receives the experienced care she needs.

“Having Ziva at Sea Life Arizona gives our guests the opportunity to see something that can’t be seen anywhere else in the state,” said Hayley Townsend, Sea Life Arizona general manager. “We are excited to help rescue an incredible sea creature and share a message of hope and ocean conservation.”One of the few institutions in the country to comprehensively integrate rehabilitation services with research and education, GSTC offers injured animals, such as Ziva, a second chance at life.

“Our goal is to rehabilitate injured animals and enable them to survive in their natural habitat,” said Dr. Terry Norton, director and veterinarian of GSTC. “In a case like Ziva’s, we wish we could restore her to normal health, but are grateful she will be able to serve as an ambassador for sea turtle education and ocean conservation to the visitors of Sea Life Arizona. We are thankful for partnerships like this that provide an opportunity for these animals to thrive in a new environment.”


Photo: Sea Life Aquarium

Gorgeous time lapse of Australia’s “Southern Lights”

by Jeremy Kressmann on

It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to see the Northern Lights, that glorious display of eerie green “smoke” that appears to float above the nighttime sky of some of the furthest northern reaches of our globe. But now I have another sight to add to that list: the Southern Lights. Also know as “Aurora Australis”, it’s the southern hemisphere equivalent of the auroras that occur up north, captured in stunning time-lapse fashion near Melbourne, Australia by photographer Alex Cherney. Give the video above a click and watch as the Milky Way gracefully dances across the southern sky, punctuated by the mesmerizing warm pulses of pink, yellow and orange.

Video: Yukon Quest 2012 gets started

by Mike Barish on

This past weekend saw the kickoff of one of the year’s biggest sporting events. No, not the Super Bowl. The 2012 Yukon Quest began. What is Yukon Quest? It’s just your run-of-the-mill 1,000 mile dog sled race from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada. It follows the trail that prospectors took during the gold rush of the 1890s and celebrate the Yukon River, the “highway of the North.” And while the Iditarod may be more well-known, Yukon Quest is considered by many to be the most difficult race in the world. Mushers and their dogs will navigate the frozen wilderness for two weeks and friend-of-Gadling Eva Holland is along for the ride and posting dispatches on her Twitter feed. She passed along this video of the start of the race and we thought we’d share it with you because, well, it’s just plain awesome.

Meet the coldest cities in America

by Jessica Marati on

Feeling chilly? Chances are, if you’re not a resident of the following five cities, you really don’t have it that bad. The Weather Channel recently released a list of the coldest cities in America, according to NOAA National Climatic Data Center average annual temperature data from the last 30 years.

Caribou, Maine, came in fifth on the list. Dubbed the “Most Northeastern City in America”, Caribou’s average annual temperature of 39.7 degrees is partially due to a “polar vortex” over the Hudson Bay, which directs cold air from Canada into northern Maine. It gets more than 9 feet of snow each winter – youch.

Fourth was Jackson, Wyoming, with an average annual temperature of 39.4 degrees. Because of its proximity to Grand Teton, Yellowstone National Park, and Jackson Hole, Jackson is a popular tourist spot, but visitors should pack warm. Since Jackson is surrounded by mountains on three sides, cold air settles into the valley at night, resulting in morning freezes approximately 250 days of the year.
Coming in third on the list was Gunnison, Colorado, located in the heart of the Rocky Mountains. With an elevation of 7640 feet and an average annual temperature of 38.1 degrees, visitors can expect freezes almost every day of the year.

International Falls, Minnesota, is the second coldest city in America, with an average annual temperature of 37.8 degrees. An all-time record low of -55 degrees has earned it the nicknames “Frostbite Falls” and “Icebox of the Nation”.

For the most part, researchers limited the list to cities with more than 5,000 people. The one exception was the number one spot, which went to Barrow, Alaska, located 5 degrees north of the Arctic Circle. With an average temperature of — get this — 11.7 degrees, Barrow is in a league of its own when it comes to cold. In fact, from late November to mid January, the sun does not even rise over the horizon. Brr.

[via weather.com, Flickr image via Bob Johnston]