CRYOPOLITICS - Original news, photos & maps from the Arctic

“We have undertaken a military buildup”: U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security holds hearing on the Arctic

USCG Healy at the North Pole in 2022. Photo by U.S. Coast Guard photo by Deborah Heldt Cordone, Auxiliary Public Affairs Specialist 1. — The death of Arctic exceptionalism

First the poles, then the peaks: From the Arctic to the Alps

As Norway takes over the Arctic Council, will members uphold its principles?

Kiruna, Sweden: An Arctic city pivots from underground to outer space

COP27 puts ‘loss and damage’ on the agenda. Where do Arctic communities fall?

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Military & Defense

“We have undertaken a military buildup”: U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security holds hearing on the Arctic

During a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security hearing, officials outlined the challenges the country faces in the Arctic abroad,…

Geopolitics

The death of Arctic exceptionalism

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Arctic exceptionalism is no longer. The region is reproducing deep divisions between Russia and the…

Travel & Photo

First the poles, then the peaks: From the Arctic to the Alps

How Arctic exploration gave rise to Alpine mountaineering, rather than the other way around.

Travel & Photo

First the poles, then the peaks: From the Arctic to the Alps

How Arctic exploration gave rise to Alpine mountaineering, rather than the other way around.

Narva, Estonia: A would-be Arctic crossroads on Europe’s edge

The story of Narva is the story of the Arctic port that never was. Had it taken off as an…

Life on an Arctic farm, interrupted only by Norwegian jets

This summer, I found myself on a farm in the Norwegian Arctic solely in charge of 16 horses, 12 goats,…

Central Asia’s collapsing water tower

Remembering a trek through Central Asian highlands where glaciers look like spilled milk - and where they irrigate actual dairy…

Asia & the Arctic

A Chinese sailboat is circumnavigating the Arctic

Chinese artist-sailor Zhai Mo (翟墨) has just set sail from Shanghai to embark on a four-month journey around the Arctic…

China & the Arctic – A View to 2050 | Hong Kong and online

This symposium will leverage Hong Kong’s historic position as a meeting place between East and West to bring together social…

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.…

Maps & Satellite Imagery

Could NASA’s newest satellite witness an ice-free Arctic Ocean?

Landsat 9 will continue NASA's important work documenting 50 years of changes to the Earth's surface from space. But for…

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…