Arctic News

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A vessel that is normally operating in Arctic waters has made a “detour” to Antarctica:

the MALIK ARCTICA beside the Brunt Ice Shelf in early January! This was the first relief of Halley Research Station by sea in several years. The teams worked incredibly hard over 9 days complete the unloading supplies, and load 6 years of waste.
Photo: British Antarctic Survey

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Sustainability can't be left to politicians and scientists — business needs...

Attractivity is another key element to life in the high north. Tromsø is Norway’s youngest municipality, in the sense that the average age of the population is the lowest in the country’s 300-plus municipalities. Our city will be the European Youth Capital in 2026. Another city in the Norwegian north, Bodø, is the European capital of culture 2024. We would, therefore, like the world to know that even though we are concerned about climate change as much as anyone else, we don’t live in a museum. Rather, we build museums to enjoy modern art.

Tromsø is offering varied activities for delegates.

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Bureau Veritas and Ponant advance polar safety research

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No Shipments from Russia's Arctic LNG 2 Until March as Sanctions Block...

The company’s new project faces a host of challenges arising from US sanctions announced in November 2023. The blocking measures affect the sale, transport, and transshipment of LNG from the project. The project’s international partners, including France’s TotalEnergies, China’s state-owned oil major CNOOC and National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), and Japan’s consortium JOGMEC have de facto exited the project leaving Novatek to find new buyers for the LNG.

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The Arctic Ocean is becoming more accessible as the sea ice retreats. Expectations of increased human activity in the central ocean basins create the need for an updated approach to governance based on an improved understanding of the ecosystem and its response to the changing environment.

Deployment of the Norwegian Polar Institute’s deepest (4200 m) and northernmost (86° 32’ N) mooring “Amundsen-1” from the research vessel Kronprins Haakon though a small lead in the sea ice on 7 August 2022. Senior engineer Kristen Fossan (Norwegian Polar Institute) is releasing one of two acoustic Doppler current profilers that will provide year-round current measurements in the upper 500 m. The whole operation took around three hours to complete and required good coordination with the captain controlling the ship and crew operating a crane and a mooring winch. Recovery is planned for summer 2024.
Photo: Trine Lise Sviggum Helgerud / Norwegian Polar Institute

SUDARCO, a new Fram Centre research programme to provide the knowledge needed for the Sustainable Development of the Arctic Ocean, began this year with a focus on the little-explored southwestern parts of the Nansen and Amundsen Basins. These basins are largely beyond national jurisdiction yet make up a substantial part of the large Central Arctic marine ecosystem.

Map showing the location of the Nansen and Amundsen Basins (outlined in white), the track of the Kronprins Haakon (yellow line), two new moored observatories (bright yellow stars), the section of hydrographic, current, turbulence, and biogeochemical observations made from the vessel (red dots) and in-situ sea ice measurements (blue hexagons) collected during the 2022 cruise. The Norwegian Polar Institute’s sustained observatories in Fram Strait (1990-present) and northeast of Svalbard (A-TWAIN, 2010-present) are also shown.

Source: Sustainable development of the Arctic Ocean | The Independent Barents Observer

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Planning to visit Svalbard anytime soon? Be aware of the new restrictions applied from this year’s cruise season:

Stricter rules apply to tourists heading to Svalbard

About 2/3 of the archipelago is protected nature reserves and national parks. With the new rules, tourists will be more limited to where and how they can make shore landings.
43 pre-defined sites allows for landings. All other areas are prohibited, with exceptions made for locals living in the three settlements of Longyearbyen, Barentsburg and Ny-Ålesund.

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“We should not close those doors and throw the keys away," says Norway PM on...

Norway argues that lack of contact will harm science work, especially related to exchange of climate data. Nearly half of the Arctic is in Russia, from the Bering Strait to the Kola Peninsula. Russian research institutions have since the early 1990s teamed up with Western partners since the Rovaniemi process on environmental cooperation was initiated by Finland in 1993, a few years before the formal Arctic Council was formed.

Not all agree with Oslo on pushing forward an “open door” option for cooperation with a war-aggressive Russia.

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Europe's northernmost cross-border railway still closed two months after ore...

It was a week before Christmas a fully-loaded iron-ore train, en route from Kiruna in northern Sweden to Narvik on the coast of the Norwegian Sea jumped off the rail at Vassijaure Station, not far from the border between the two countries.
At first, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) believed the tracks could be restored within two weeks. Standstill, however, was prolonged into January. Snow storms late in the month and difficult restoration caused further delays. Now, by mid-February, traffic is still not restarted.

Surprisingly there are not a lot of ships at anchor waiting for cargo at Narvik:

MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic

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More trouble for the iron ore railway:

More trouble on Kiruna-Narvik (de)railway shortly after reopening

Stll not many ships at anchor in Narvik:

MarineTraffic: Global Ship Tracking Intelligence | AIS Marine Traffic

Some may have turned around, or left empty.

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Europe needs unique iron ore from Kirkenes, says Swedish mine developer

“This mine simply must be reopened,” Lindquist says and underlines that there now is a major interest among investors in green mining.
But he admits that the location might be a problem. According to the company director, several potential investors have raised the security aspects of investing in the border area to Russia.
“There is a difficult security situation [with Russia] and we are talking about international investors. Of course, we Scandinavians do not think anything will happen, but we have to convince also others,” he told the Barents Observer.

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More news from Kirkenes:

Protesters ‘rename’ street in front of Russian Consulate in Kirkenes after...

How to display street names in the Norwegian border town has previously sparked debate. Kirkenes is the only Nordic town where names also are written with Cyrillic letters.

Kirkenes has dual language street signs in Norwegian and Russian. Fears of Putin’s totalitarian regime and his war against Ukraine now shatter cross-border ties. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

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The “Arctic Angles” take a shortcut:

Soldier with the U.S. 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division carrying his weapon and gear after a jump in Alaska in February this year. It is the same soldiers that will jump near Bardufoss in Norway to take part in the exercise from March 18 to 22. Photo: Spc. Abreanna Goodrich / U.S. Army

Alaskan soldiers will fly across North Pole and jump over northern Norway

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Russia is considering withdrawal from the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea...

“The issue of the possible denunciation of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in the Arctic is under study, – Chairman of the Russian Parliament Committee for the Development of the Far East and Arctic Nikolai Kharitonov told the Russian news website Izvestia on Monday.

“We will not continue to be part of it to our detriment”, Mr Kharitonov continues. – “As Vladimir Putin says, we are no longer going to believe in their words. If you look at the Arctic from above, 64% of it, based on the circumference, belongs to Russia. We secured it all and we are obliged to protect everything that our ancestors handed to us.”

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No wonder that Trump wanted to buy Greenland some years ago:

Greenland is well positioned for future trade, tourism and mining growth, but...

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Forget WWII style warfare. Future wars will be fought by DRONES of all kinds:

Norway establishes Arctic base for long-range drones

PS> Unless human kind takes to their senses and stop killing each other for economic and political gain for the few.

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The King crab (aka Kamchatka crab) is an invasive species that has become big business in Finnmark:

King crab boom in northern Norway has become multi-million dollar industry

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRJl0TvWC6w&t=296s
Note that they use another invasive species as bait in the traps;
Pacific Pink Salmon, which is NOT welcome and is NOT an economic success.

In fact it is a danger to the native salmon as it enters the rivers to compete for spawning grounds:

Ecological effects of Pacific pink salmon in a river system in Finnmark

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ARC INTEGRITY - IMO 9332949

US Army sends heavy equipment to Norwegian Arctic port of Narvik for transfer...

The 227 meter long vehicle carrier Arc Integrity on the 24th of April made port call in the Narvik Harbour. On board was several hundred pieces of equipment that are to be applied in a series of NATO training operations in northern Europe.

The equipment belongs to the US Army 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the 10th Mountain Division and will be applied in the allied exercise Immediate Response 2024 (IR24). The exercise includes allied training in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Czechia and Poland in the period between 21st of April - 31st of May, the Norwegian Armed Forces informs.

PS> The vessel shown with the article is obviously not the ARC Integrity, nor taken at this time of the year. (Anybody care to identify the vessel?)

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The Arctic region is warming faster than previously anticipated:

European Arctic experienced warmer-than-average conditions for most of 2023:...

Climate report, Quick Facts

• Svalbard had its hottest summer since records started
• The Greenland Ice Sheet had heatwave conditions for most of July and a shorter period in August
• Weather carried smoke from wildfires in Canada to Greenland in July contributing to significant melt
• The Arctic Ocean’s annual sea, and sea ice, surface temperature were the sixth highest since satellite records began in 1982

In all, 2023 was sixth-warmest year for the Arctic since data collection began.
The report was released on April 22, which coincides with International Earth Day.

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Behind Aleksandr Lukashenko’s grand port plan in Murmansk is a dodgy deal...

A new seaport terminal for Belarusian goods is to be built on the western shore of the Kola Bay. According to Governor Chibis, the new terminal will have capacity to handle up to 25 million tons of goods per year.
Reportedly, the new seaport is to be able to handle containers, oil products and bulk. But the lion’s share of the goods will be fertilizers.

It is the company Morskoy Terminal Vorota Arktiki (Sea Terminal Arctic Gate) that will be responsible for the project. It was established on 1st of April 2024 with a founding capital of 180 million rubles (€1,83 million). It has Murmansk region as its place of registration and is headed by General Director Andrei Bunakov

Andrei Bunakov was until recently in prison. He was earlier in charge of the biggest car tyre producing company in Belarus.
In February 2023, Belarus ruler Aleksandr Lukashenko lashed out against Bunakov, who allegedly had sold tires to Russian companies on deflated prices.
«Well, I call them swindlers. There is no other name for it,» Lukashenko underlined in a government meeting.

According to Russian state-associated news agency Interfax, the company is owned 99 percent by the Belarusian company Logistics Energy. Another 1 percent is owned by a woman with the name Nelli Malyarova.
Owner of the one-percent stake in the new port development company - Nelli Malyarova - is closely associated with Nikolai Vorobey, the Belarusian businessman suspected in large-scale smuggling of coal and oil products, independent newspaper Reform.News reports.

PS> Nice, cosy arrangement.

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Concerns emerge over Moscow’s push for expanded research at Svalbard

Today, she says to the Barents Observer that Svalbard’s role as a Arctic flashpoint is increasing as the strategic environment shifts and tensions are rising.

“Russia has maintained a strategic interest in Svalbard remaining as per the status quo arrangement of the past decades - this ensures certainty and predictability for Moscow which is of upmost importance given the geographical proximity of Svalbard to the heart of Russia’s nuclear deterrent precinct, the submarine bases at the Kola Peninsula,” Buchanan explains.
“Keeping Svalbard demilitarized in the intent of the Svalbard Treaty is a principle strategic aim for Russia.” A second principle, she says, is “ensuring free and fair access to Svalbard for Russians.”

Elizabeth Buchanan points to Russia’s recent announcement of unilateral tourism programs to be something to watch closely.
“It has a potential to be used to ‘re-populate’ Svalbard outposts from the Soviet-era. This is linked to a broader development involving Moscow’s legislated signal that it will fight to ‘defend’ Russian nationals wherever the world may host them.”

As recently reported by the Barents Observer, Russia aims at starting direct voyages with tourists from Murmansk to Barentsburg.