ARCTIC: Big Military Exercise & more – 6th Feb 2024

Góðan daginn from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 6th of February twenty twenty-four A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

Almost every Arctic nation is in the midst of the biggest military exercise the Arctic has ever seen, and NATO’s biggest since the Cold War. It’s called Operation Nordic Response, and thirteen NATO nations from across Europe and North America are sending 20,000 troops into northern Scandinavia to simulate a response to a hypothetical Russian invasion of Europe’s Arctic. The operation began last week with US troops landing in Atlantic Europe, who will move north into the Arctic along with other European nations. The main Arctic exercise will take place from the 3rd to the 15th of March, with further exercises in southern Europe from March until June. Russia has been informed of the exercises but, unlike previous NATO deployments, has been banned from observing.

Arctic defense received additional reinforcement on Friday the 2nd when Norway and the US signed a new defense agreement. This deal grants the US military authorization to build military infrastructure in eight areas. In twenty twenty-one, four areas were granted to the US military in northern Norway, which means the most powerful military in the world now has twelve military facility areas in Norwegian territory, in addition to the fifteen Finland signed over to the US in December twenty twenty-three.

A new country may become a force in the Arctic Ocean soon. Belarusian president, Aleksandr Lukashenko, Putin’s closest ally outside of Russia, met with the Russian president on Friday the 2nd to discuss integrating Belarus into the Russian Federation. Lukashenko wants Belarus to have access to the north Russian ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk. He believes this will allow Belarus to become less dependent on trade with Western Europe —which opposes much of Lukashenko’s rule—, and open up trade with Asia. The talks are ongoing with no completion expected soon.

In Norway’s Arctic capital of Tromsø, the Arctic Frontiers conference took place from Monday the 29th of January to Thursday the 1st of February. The future of the Arctic Council was raised in a debate as Russia’s exclusion from the Council keeps it in a state of suspension. Solveig Rossebø, the Norwegian Senior Arctic Official, said that the Arctic Council is unlikely to survive without Russia as a member due to the country’s importance in Arctic politics and science.

In some good news, we might leave behind concerns over Greenland's frozen earth releasing massive amounts of greenhouse gasses. According to a recent University of Copenhagen study published on Wednesday, the 31st of January, in the journal Nature Communications Earth & Environment, ice-free areas in Greenland are absorbing more methane from the atmosphere than they emit, transforming them into valuable carbon sinks. This unexpected finding attributes the absorption of methane to a unique group of microorganisms residing at the top of Greenland's soil. Even if ice disappears, Greenland could continue to act as a carbon sink. However, the microorganisms thrive only in cold, dry environments, so their beneficial impact hinges on Greenland avoiding warming and becoming wetter, a likely outcome under current climate change scenarios.

This wasn’t the only hopeful research to come from Greenland. A study published by Hokkaido University on Tuesday the 30th of January, in the academic journal, The Journal of Geophysical Research, explored the potential of using geoengineering to slow ice loss in Greenland. Modeling the injection of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere above Greenland, blocking sunlight from reaching the ice, the study found this method more effective than even the best-case scenarios of global warming presented by the Paris Climate Accords. While acknowledging the theoretical nature of the study and the complexity of Earth systems, the report suggests the potential for locally reversing climate change using this technique.

Over in Alaska, the development of the first deep water port in the Arctic just got a major boost. In the summer of twenty twenty-three, the US Congress authorized a port In the city of Nome. On Thursday the 1st of February, Mary Peltola, the Democratic representative for Alaska, said in a press release that the project has secured $550 million dollars of federal funding and that the completion of the project is now legally bound by both state and federal governments. The project is expected to be completed by twenty thirty and will allow the largest cruise ships, shipping, and military vessels to dock high in the Alaskan Arctic.

While businesses in Alaska can look forward to investment in their futures, many local residents are about to lose their internet connections due to a lack of funding. On Thursday the 1st, Jessica Rosenworcel, the Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman said that next week the Affordable Connectivity Program will end as the US Congress did not renew the funding of the program. In Alaska this will impact over 23,000 homes, which will suddenly face a large increase in their monthly broadband bills. Vermont senator Peter Welch presented a draft law to the US Senate to renew the program.

Still In Alaska, a significant change in hunting limits is poised to impact both caribou and their hunters. The Western Arctic Caribou Herd, the state's largest caribou population, has drastically diminished from half a million twenty years ago to just 150,000 last year. The Alaska Board of Game, in a decision on Tuesday the 30th, lowered the hunting limit from five caribou per hunter per day to fifteen per year. Local subsistence hunters argue that this allowance is insufficient for their needs. These decisions aim to implement emergency measures to protect the caribou while maintaining a sustainable Indigenous way of life.

To know more about herds of caribou living alongside native Alaskans, follow the link in the show notes!

Let’s head to Iceland, where the post-eruption period is not going smoothly. The Icelandic Meteorological Office said on Wednesday, the 31st, that the magma activity is still active below the ground and a new eruption is likely to arrive soon in the same location. To make matters worse, the Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management announced on Friday the 2nd that the damage to the town of Grindavik and surrounding areas is worse than previously thought. Due to damage at the local power plant, hot water is in short supply for all towns in the area, and there is no cold water at all in Grindavik due to pipeline damage. This is an urgent matter, as local fire response teams currently have no cold water to fight fires.

Despite being early in the year, initial signs for Arctic sea ice are surprisingly positive. On Monday the 5th, the US National Snow and Ice Center released January data indicating that twenty twenty-four ranks as the third-highest for winter ice in the last ten years. For most of January, the ice was exceptionally healthy, reaching its highest level in twenty-one years. Following a disastrous twenty twenty-three for Arctic ice, this early improvement offers some hope for a better year. Nonetheless, the current ice measurement remains well below the average recorded between nineteen eighty and twenty twenty.

For daily updates on sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, check out the US National Snow and Ice Center's website. Link in the show notes!

Keeping Indigenous languages alive is especially difficult in the Internet age, where only major languages tend to be supported. However, fortunately, on Wednesday the 31st, the Sámi Council announced that the newest Apple Operating System update will support eight of the Sámi languages, including Sámi keyboards and system UI languages. The council hopes other tech companies follow suit and add support for these endangered languages. The timing of this announcement is apt, as February is Indigenous Language Month in Canada, a period in which the protection and expansion of these languages is promoted across the country.

Aand that is for this week.

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