Arctic News

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The Arctic Council requires reform, not a funeral: Commentary - ArcticToday

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Ambitious project to connect Alaska and Russia by rail tunnel:

The man who dedicated his life to connecting Russia and Alaska - ArcticToday

PS> Maybe not the right time for such a project, but maybe one day?

[Rock_Hill]

If the local natives don’t want it, why build it?

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The deepest parts of the Arctic Ocean are warming now too

Russia withdraws from Euro-Arctic rescue cooperation

[Jughead]

So the Arctic Ocean warms a tiny bit and somehow “global warming” is the cause because they can’t think of anything else? Perhaps it’s the other way around? Arctic Ocean warms naturally and causes global warming?

What is the mechanism that shows that humans can heat vast oceans by atmospheric levels of CO2? Do you heat the water in your bathtub by warming the air in the bathroom.

[spowiednick]

@Jughead

Do you heat the water in your bathtub by warming the air in the bathroom.

If you have anough time and money to pay electricity bills you can.

Air warms water primarily through convection, where warm air touches the water surface and transfers heat to the water’s surface through direct contact (conduction) and mixing. This process creates convection currents in the water, causing it to circulate and heat up evenly.

For the experiment to prove it one needs: One room with 1 bathtube filled with cold water , electric or other heater , two thermometers. And make sure you record the readings at certain intervasls. Have fun .

Meantime i am reading below and having fun:

Cheers

[ombugge]

Could everybody got bit wrong?:

The Arctic mirage: Why the 'next frontier' for critical minerals probably...

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New Year greeting from the Arctic Today publisher:

A new year’s greeting from our publisher - ArcticToday

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The 400-metre-long Saam FSU has been based in Ura Bay since June 2023. Photo: morflot.gov.ru

The Arctic LNG 2 project is built on the Gydan Peninsula, on the shore of the Ob Bay. The Bay is covered by thick sea ice in wintertime.
Photo: local VK page

Apparently, the Christophe de Margerie, a carrier with icebreaking category Arc7, is now shuttling between the Saam and the Utrenny terminal in the Gulf of Ob:

The Christophe de Margerie has shuttled between the Gulf of Ob and the Ura Bay since late December 2025. Map: goradar.ru

CHRISTOPHE DE MARGERIE | Aker Arctic

Source:

A covert LNG transshipment scheme takes shape outside Kola Peninsula

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Today, Svalbard is the warmest place in Norway

A wave of cold weather is moving over the Norwegian mainland with temperatures dropping to below minus 30. At the same time, the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is experiencing an opposite situation. On January 8, several weather stations reported temperatures above zero.
“Today, Svalbard is the warmest place in the country!” The Norwegian Meteorological Service reports.

For the first time on record, all 12 months of the year were warmer than normal in Norway. “The high temperatures are strongly linked to man-made climate change,” the meteorologists emphasise.

PS: It was warmer in Longyearbyen than in Paris for a short while

FYI: It was -40C on the Finnmark plateau two days ago, but along the coast it does not get that cold. Here in Ålesund the coldest was -7C.
From tomorrow morning the temperature is raising above 0C here, with 6C forecast for Monday. (3-5C for the rest of the week)

Longyearbyen is cold (-9C) at the moment, but warmer weather is returning there from Monday - Thursday (1C):

Long term weather forecast for Longyearbyen

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https://www.thebarentsobserver.co
m/news/norway-reaches-fisheries-agreement-with-greenland/443246

The protocol from the agreement states that the cod quota will be reduced compared with 2025.
The reason is a reduction of the fish stock. The two parties emphasized that they want to achieve sustainable management of the fish stock moving forward.

Flexibility agreement in Russia’s zone
Furthermore the Norwegian and Greenlandic delegations agreed concerning quotas that share interest with Russia.
The agreement allows for some fishing quotas, given from Russia to Greenland, to be caught in the Norwegian economic zone, as allowed by the Russian Government.

In addition, Norway will update Russian authorities on Greenland’s catches reported to Norway.
There must also be communication between Greenland and Russia when entering Russia’s economic zone, the protocol states.

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Fake IMO number? Who and what can you thrust these days?

Tanker with false IMO number sails in the Barents Sea

The tanker that on January 16 sailed into the Norwegian part of the Barents Sea was actually the 28-year-old Arcusat. The real IMO number of the ship is 9147447 and its current flag state is Cameroon. It has a gross tonnage of 57148 and it has changed its name 11 times since 2013. Before July 1, 2025 the ship was sailing under the name “Tavian.”

According to an investigation carried out by Lloyd’s List in collaboration with SynMax Intelligence, owners of sanctioned tankers are actively stealing and inventing identities, and deliberately abuse the global ship-tracking system.

The investigation found that sanctioned tankers are systematically hijacking ‘dead’ IMO numbers and live vessel IDs. Some vessels have taken this one step further, sailing under completely invented IMO numbers that do not exist in official registers.

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Freedom of expression and to demonstrate is held high in Norway:

Moscow's diplomats ask Oslo to stop anti-war protesters

Freedom of assembly: People in Kirkenes gather outside Russia’s Consulate General to show support for Ukraine.

Entrance to Russia’s Consulate General in Kirkenes.
Photos: Thomas Nilsen

A Royal visit to the area, incl. to the Russian border crossing at Storskog emphasize that Norway take sovereignty seriously, both in the Arctic and everywhere else:

Princess on the border

Norway has a 198 km long land border, as well as a vast maritime border, with Russia.
The relationship between the two neighbouring countries has descended into a deep freeze following Russia’s increasingly dictatorial rule and the more than 11 years of war against Ukraine.

Before arriving in Kirkenes she spend a night with a Sami family in their “lavvu” on the Finnmark high plateau, where their reindeers are roaming during the winter.

PS: A lavvu is a temporary dwelling used by the Sami people of northern extremes of Northern Europe. It has a design similar to a Native American tipi but is less vertical and more stable in high winds.
Source: Wikipedia

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Things are changing in the Arctic. No, it is not only the climate:

As Arctic Frontiers 2026 gets underway, the opening session framed the debate ahead in stark terms. In a region where the ice is melting faster than political consensus can form, Europe must decide — quickly — what it stands for, what it is willing to defend and how it intends to do so. As with climate change, the clock is ticking, and the future of the Arctic is increasingly at stake.

Source:

Is the Arctic on the menu? Arctic Frontiers opens with stark warnings for...

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It is hotting up in the arctic:

Recent report show high temperatures and a decreasing fish stock

The results were released during the Arctic frontiers conference in Tromsø in early February 2026. The timing was no coincidence, the director, Nils Gunnar Kvamstø, emphasized before revealing the results.
“People in the North know better than anyone how existentially important it is to have an overview of fish stocks in our sea areas. When geopolitical tensions increase, it becomes even more important to secure food supplies. The competition for natural resources becomes much stronger,” he said before introducing the report.

Further, he mentioned the increasing importance of managing the sea areas in a sustainable way despite geopolitical tensions and climate change.
“Sustainable management is even more challenging now than before,” he said.

Plankton scarcity

Both high temperatures and lack of plankton are factors mentioned as contributing to a significant loss in fish biomass.
Arne Pedersen, head of the Eastern Finnmark Fishermen’s Association, emphasizes the crucial role of plankton, the primary food source for the local fish stock.
"The Calanus plays a central role in our ecosystem. Even whales rely on this plankton,” he says, further emphasizing that the local fishing industry is being affected by its scarcity.

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Did Trump just dis Greenland’s healthcare after U.S. sailor is airlifted and...

Let me reiterate this point: when I set out to build an Arctic think tank 10 years ago, one of my principal motivations was to establish consensus among allies about the strategic importance of the Arctic and how best to secure the region from the nefarious influence and activities of what NATO would consider adversaries. Yet, 10 years later, foreign and security policy analysts find themselves in the middle of the Cirque du Soleil trying to come up with geopolitical backstories to make sense of acts by an ally which evoke “Wow, did that really happen?” as a much more instinctive response.

I have such great admiration for the Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, who calmly posted today, “It’s going to be a no thank you from here. President Trump’s idea to send an American hospital ship here to Greenland is noted. But we have a public health system where treatment is free for citizens. It’s a deliberate choice. And a basic part of our society. It’s not like that in the United States, where it costs money to go to the doctor. We are always open to dialogue and collaboration. Also with the U.S. But talk to us now instead of just coming up with more or less random outbursts on social media. Dialogue and cooperation require respect that decisions about our country are made at home.”

About the author:
Dr. Dwayne Menezes is a historian, foreign policy expert, and social entrepreneur specializing in the Commonwealth and Polar Regions. He is the founder of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative, a London-based international think-tank dedicated to Arctic, Nordic and Antarctic affairs.

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The 1,200-kilometre-long Finnmarksløpet (Finnmark race) crosses Norway’s northernmost region and is one of the most challenging dog-sled races in the world. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

Europe’s longest dog-sled race hit by Russian GPS jamming

Finnmarksløpet’s Managing Director, Svanhild Pedersen, said it was regrettable that the disturbances were affecting the race’s GPS tracking.
“These are external factors beyond our control and not a system error on the part of our provider,” she said.
The trail in the area is well marked, and participants are encouraged to carry a map and compass as alternative navigation tools. Finnmarksløpet emphasises that the safety of both dogs and mushers is well safeguarded.
Spectators can follow the dog sleds on the race’s online tracking map (paywall) or see when participants arrive at the various checkpoints along the route.

The race started in Alta on Friday, and the first mushers are expected to reach the border town of Kirkenes on Monday before heading back towards Alta.
Part of the route runs along the western shores of the Pasvik River, which forms part of the border between Norway and Russia’s Kola Peninsula.

Checkpoint Kirkenes. Photo: Thomas Nilsen