CRYOPOLITICS | Original news, photos & maps from the Arctic

In Greenland, economic concerns trump geopolitics

Musk ox diplomacy: When the US sent two Arctic animals to China

Can oil development work for Indigenous Peoples?

Were votes ever delivered by dog sled in Alaska?

"I voted" stickers in Alaska given to early voters in 2020 in multiple Alaska Native languages, Spanish, and Tagalog. — To vote, rural Alaska overcomes ice, rivers, and a lack of roads

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Russia

Navalny & Nord Stream 2: It all goes back to the Arctic

The poisoning of Putin's fiercest critic, Alexei Navalny, could disrupt plans for Nord Stream 2, which would bring gas from…

USA/Alaska

What the Arctic reveals about coronavirus

The biological residues of the 1918 Spanish Flu dug up from the Arctic's frozen recesses may inform how we react…

Climate Change

Welcome to the geoengineered Arctic

At Arctic Circle 2019, U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, it seemed, had not gotten the memo: Oil is out,…

Greenland

In Greenland, economic concerns trump geopolitics

Although Greenland has lately found itself in the crosshairs of global geopolitics, a first-of-its kind foreign policy opinion survey reveals…

Asia & the Arctic

Musk ox diplomacy: When the US sent two Arctic animals to China

While a population of musk ox may have survived in southern Siberia and Mongolia, the animals don't seem to have…

Oil & Gas

Can oil development work for Indigenous Peoples?

Asia and the Arctic are far apart, but comparing the experiences of Indigenous Peoples in the face of global resource…

Travel & Photo

New Zealand’s Southern Alps offer a lush mirror image of the Arctic

By the end of this century, tourism on the moon may be possible, but glacier tourism in New Zealand may…

Going underground in Kiruna

"In order for us to be able to continue mining iron ore, up until 2035, everything on top of the…

Icelandic artist lights up London

Olafur Eliasson's show at London's Tate Modern passes Iceland's landscape through a glass prism, refracting it into a world of…

Cycling along the whale-road

On the windswept Outer Hebrides, one of the remotest parts of the United Kingdom, silvery mists swirl over white sand…

Asia & the Arctic

Musk ox diplomacy: When the US sent two Arctic animals to China

While a population of musk ox may have survived in southern Siberia and Mongolia, the animals don't seem to have…

China reveals Arctic geopolitics to be above Pompeo’s pay grade

Pompeo’s swashbuckling fantasies aside, geopolitical competition in the contemporary Arctic is not about who controls swaths of continents or oceans.…

South Korea, an unlikely polar pioneer, hosts Arctic conference

Over the weekend, as the temperature in Seoul plunged to -12°C, Koreans bundled up in the long puffy black parkas…

Northern lights to neon lights: Kirkenes to transform into polar Chinatown

Featured image: In February 2019, street signs in Kirkenes will temporarily go from bilingual to trilingual. Photo: Cryopolitics rendition. Sitting on…

Maps & Satellite Imagery

Cross-polar flights leave trails of pollution in their wake, hurting the Arctic.

Russia’s extension of US overflight rights hurts the Arctic

Every week, hundreds of flights on U.S. airlines pass through Russian airspace. Only a handful of these flights actually start…

New European satellite provides crystal-clear view of Arctic

Featured image: Ice flowing out to sea near Ilulissat, Greenland In June of last year, a satellite called Sentinel-2 rocketed into space.…

Seen from space: Canadian highway to Arctic Ocean nears completion

Featured image: The Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway seen from space with NASA’s Landsat-8 satellite. A few days ago, The Washington Post ran a story…

At night, satellites cast eyes on the Arctic frontier

(A version of this post originally appeared as part of the December 8 launch of Arctic Deeply, a now sadly defunct…