CRYOPOLITICS - Original news, photos & maps from the Arctic

A second day riding across Svalbard, where snowmobiles outnumber people

Snowmobiles going up a mountain in Svalbard. — A crash course in snowmobiling across Svalbard

In Longyearbyen, local issues outweigh geopolitical concerns

Sea ice in the Arctic in February 2017. Source: NOAA — Trump budget cuts are destroying Arctic data

Sámi call for inclusion in ‘total defense’ at Arctic security forum

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Travel & Photo

A second day riding across Svalbard, where snowmobiles outnumber people

Day two of a snowmobiling expedition across Svalbard – this time, ending with a sauna and dip in the Arctic…

Travel & Photo

A crash course in snowmobiling across Svalbard

On the first day of a three-day snowmobile expedition across Svalbard, I learned that operating the machine involves just throttling,…

Climate Change

Ilulissat’s icebergs are shrinking

The world-famous icebergs of Ilulissat, Greenland seem large. Towering up to 60 meters above the water, many are. But they…

Travel & Photo

A second day riding across Svalbard, where snowmobiles outnumber people

Day two of a snowmobiling expedition across Svalbard – this time, ending with a sauna and dip in the Arctic…

A crash course in snowmobiling across Svalbard

On the first day of a three-day snowmobile expedition across Svalbard, I learned that operating the machine involves just throttling,…

Tromsø keeps the dream of the ’90s alive and splashing

On the Arctic's suburban fringe, weekends center on skiing, shopping at the mall, and swimming. In a time of global…

Skiing to work in North Norway

As much as North Norway is in the global crosshairs, I have to admit that I feel a sense of…

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…