At Longyearbyen:
October 25, last sunrise, for just an hour.
February 15, first sunrise in 2021
December 21, solstice, the ‘noon sun’ will be at an altitude of -11.6°, inside the nautical twilight.
I really liked the polar night in Longyearbyen…
Longyearbyen is on the south side of Adventfjorden, thus the sun is not seen there before it is high enough in the sky to climb the nearby mountains.
It is above horizon at that latitude 16. Febr. but isn’t SEEN in Longyearbyen before 08.March:
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More oil shipments on the NSR:
Rosneft has big plans for the Vostok Oil project:
https://en.portnews.ru/news/305310/#:~:text=There%20will%20be%2050%20vessels,synergy%20in%20Russian%20industrial%20production.
Sevmorput is now returning to St. Petersburg without reaching Vostok Base, Antarctica:
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/nuclear-safety/2020/11/nuclear-powered-carrier-returns-south-atlantic-after-breakage-newly-shifted-0#:~:text=Photo%3A%20Thomas%20Nilsen-,Nuclear-powered%20carrier%20returns%20from%20South-Atlantic%20after%20propeller%20blade,outside%20Angola%20for%20a%20month.
Dredging the Ob Gulf allow larger ships to enter the new ports there:
But what does it do for marine life??
The navigation season on the NSR is coming to an end, except for ships with high ice class.
It is time to make up statistics for this year’s activity on the NSR:
China is now an Arctic Nation, or at least intend to be:
More and better SAR capacity is needed to make the NSR usable for more shipping:
How is the situation for SAR capacity in other part of the Arctic? (Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Svalbard)
Could be better. To my knowledge, ship-based SAR coverage around the Alaskan northern coast, the Canadian Arctic and Greenland is spotty (limited number of vessels) and seasonal (but then again so is the activity). Svalbard has Polarsyssel pretty much year-round and occasionally KV Svalbard makes rounds around the archipelago.
Russia used to have a fairly large fleet of rescue vessels, but the numbers have reduced and some are stationed more or less permanently (and probably on commerical charter) around offshore facilities such as Prirazlomnoya platform. However, that’s one way of keeping the ships in operational status. Another option would be to include SAR capabilities and functionalities to every vessel permanently stationed in the Arctic; namely the icebreakers.
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As I understand it, the USCG keeps one helicopter in the Nome (Northern Bering Sea) / Kotzebue (Southeastern Chukchi Sea) are during July, August, and September.
On rare occasions, the POLAR STAR, HEALEY, and other USCG vessels may make an appearance.
Other than a few small shallow draft commercial tugs, and commercial aircraft, there is virtually no SAR capability in Arctic Alaska.
Quite a bit of fishing activity in the Davis Strait pretty much year around.
SAR in the Svalbard zone has proved it’s mantle a few times lately. Not least when the shrimp trawler Northguider grounded in the Hinlopen Strait 28. Dec. 2018:
She was emptied of fuel and luboil in the dead of winter, but the wreck was only removed in Sept. this year in a very difficult salvage operation:
The 2019 salvage attempt failed due to ice conditions.
PS> Both SAR and salvage is made more complicated by darkness and ice. Not to mention oil spill clean up.
Russia is forging ahead with their Project 22220 amid record low Arctic sea:
https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/arctic/2020/12/amid-record-low-arctic-sea-ice-russia-lay-down-yet-another-nuclear-icebreaker#:~:text=Photo%3A%20Rosatomflot-,Amid%20record%20low%20Arctic%20sea-ice%2C%20Russia%20to%20lay%20down,Petersburg%20on%20December%2018.
USCG Polar Star reach record breaking 72 11’ N in winter season:
That is slightly north of the North Cape (71 10’ N)
Popular winter destination in non-pandemic times:
Two LNG carriers meet on the NSR in the middle of winter:
It is reported that some changes to US policy will happen already today, incl. on oil & gas exploration in the US Arctic
As promised:
More changes in the offering: