CRYOPOLITICS - Original news, photos & maps from the Arctic

US Arctic research faces “existential threat”

A visit to North Dakota: The Siberia, or Scandinavia, of the West

November drives another nail in the coffin for Arctic cooperation

As Arctic heats up, some Sámi resist change while others embrace it

Ukrainian drone allegedly strikes Russian airbase, putting the Arctic back in the global crosshairs

Long forgotten, these Soviet satellites once linked the Arctic to Moscow

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Geopolitics

A look back at 2023 in the Arctic

A recap of three major developments in the Arctic, one underreported story, and what to look for in the US…

Environment

US Arctic research faces “existential threat”

With Trump killing off funding and staffing for research into climate and the Arctic, the U.S. polar science community is…

Travel & Photo

A visit to North Dakota: The Siberia, or Scandinavia, of the West

With the top of the world getting crowded, I have to go elsewhere to get a fresh take on cryopolitics.…

Geopolitics Mia BennettNovember 14, 2024 0

November drives another nail in the coffin for Arctic cooperation

A eulogy for the days when ex-Soviet air traffic controllers from Magadan partied with Federal Aviation Administration lifers from Maryland in Las Vegas. Or at least, that's how I imagine…Continue Reading →

Travel & Photo

A visit to North Dakota: The Siberia, or Scandinavia, of the West

With the top of the world getting crowded, I have to go elsewhere to get a fresh take on cryopolitics.…

Day tripping in the Arctic: A cruise to Pyramiden

Finding the world on board a cruise to Pyramiden, an abandoned Soviet mining town on Svalbard.

Longyearbyen at last

After years of daydreaming about Svalbard, in September 2024, I finally made my first visit to the glaciated archipelago.

The aurora I didn’t see

Appearing more perfect in pixels than reality, the aurora emblematize our visual, screen-mediated age. A century ago, though, radio rules…

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…