ARCTIC: Discovery in Greenland’s Deep-Sea Floor & more – 30th Dec 2025

Bures from Oakley! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 30th of December twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

No matter how much we think we understand the Arctic, this vast region continues to astound humans. According to the magazine Scientific American, researchers have investigated the deep-sea floor off the Greenlandic coast, which is covered in Freya hydrate mounds: structures made of crystallized methane gas.

The scientists discovered an incredible ecosystem living among these mounds, over two miles, about 3,600 metres deep. Living among the mounds are a host of animals that do not need sunlight or to eat to have energy, as they feed on inorganic chemical reactions taking place at the mounds.

This amazing discovery shows why protecting the Arctic seafloor is so important: we just don’t know what lives down there, or how important it is.

It’s the season for scientific discoveries, with science news outlet, Science Alert, reporting on Thursday the 25th about the unique color-changing habits of the reindeer, and we’re not talking about Rudolph. Reindeer's eyes change color as the seasons change. In the summer, reindeer have golden eyes to reflect the long, bright Arctic summer days, but in the winter, their eyes turn a deep blue colour. The dark northern winters turn the whole landscape a dark blue, and by changing their eye colour to mirror this, reindeer are better able to absorb blue light, giving them better visibility even in the months of continuous night.

Reindeer are doing their best to adapt to the changing Arctic, but some Canadian populations are struggling. Canadian Broadcaster, CBC, reported on Friday the 26th that the Global Initiative on Ungulate Migration has published two maps showing how the Bathurst reindeer population, in Canada’s Northwest Territories, has changed its migration patterns due to rapid population decline.

According to the map, in the last thirty years, this population has shrunk from 400,000 animals to under 8,000, while human infrastructure like roads and mines has increased within the animal’s habitat. Coupling human encroachment with climate change means that areas for feeding and breeding have largely disappeared for this reindeer population, and now they only live in a small area in a corner of the Canadian North, hoping to make it through another year.

The plight of the reindeer isn’t stopping Canada from its Arctic development projects. On Tuesday the 23rd, CBC reported on how the political leaders of Canada’s Arctic territories are touting the benefits of an Arctic economic and security corridor that could transform the economic future of both the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

The proposed project would create a 230-mile or 370-kilometer-long road stretching from Nunavut’s north coast to Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories, connecting many remote communities to the ocean, increasing their economic opportunities. It should also boost defence, creating a new port which can allow greater access for vessels like Canadian Coast Guard ships and submarines, as well as plane access on the proposed airstrip.

An Indigenous community is already receiving benefits from Canada’s northern development, but not without controversy. According to the local newspaper, The Wrangel Sentinel, members of the Tāłtān Nation on the border with Alaska recently voted to approve a deal with Skeena, a Canadian mining company that hopes to revive a huge gold and silver mine, called Eskay Creek, which stopped production in two thousand eight.

Skeena has promised to pay each member of the community over $7,000 US dollars and hire locals to work in the mine, which tipped the vote in favor of approving it.

But some Tāłtāns aren’t happy. Louie Wagner, a native community member, told the newspaper that the local Unuk River is already seeing less fish and wildlife, and this mine may harm their traditional hunting and fishing grounds beyond recovery.

Alaska is betting large on Arctic development. According to a report from Wednesday the 24th by the environmental news agency, Grist, a long-planned natural gas pipeline to connect northern Alaska to shipping routes in the south is facing an enormous cost estimate ranging from $44 to 70 billion US dollars.

The pipeline was first proposed in the nineteen sixties but has been too costly for any company to build so far. The Trump administration has reportedly spent approximately $600 million US dollars into planning, design, and permitting, but just like in decades past, no energy companies have been willing to spend the multibillions on one of the largest infrastructure projects in the US’s history.

To read the history of this project, check out Grist’s reporting with the link in the show notes.

The US government is increasing its investment in Alaska’s military too. On Thursday the 25th, news agency, The Alaska Beacon, wrote that the US government’s new defence spending bill includes hundreds of millions of US dollars for several new Arctic defence initiatives.

Alongside a pay rise, soldiers and Coast Guard members in Alaska will receive a special bonus, a round-trip flight home each year, to improve morale for service members stationed far from home. The bill also includes millions for new cold-weather gear and funding to reopen the U.S. Navy base at Adak, located in the western Aleutian Islands.

The accelerating rate at which the Arctic is changing poses an important question: What is against the law in the Arctic? The rest of the world has clear laws about land and sea, but the far north lives in a difficult legal area as it shifts from solid to liquid throughout the year. In a piece written by Brett Simpson for The Atlantic published on Friday the 26th, he writes that current governance is unsuitable to adequately protect the Arctic, and that sea ice should be given the highest possible legal status, similar to how other nations have written environmental rights into their constitutions.

Sea ice is currently disappearing faster than the world can create laws to save it, but if the Arctic nations can agree on granting ice its own legal right to exist, the framework to save the Arctic might finally be in place.

To read this article, freely available and in English, take a look at the link in the show notes.

Getting Russia to agree on sea ice protections may be difficult, as the country continues to focus on its shipping industry. On Wednesday the 24th, Bloomberg reported that Sovcomflot, Russia’s largest shipping company, has received Russia’s first domestically built ice-class tanker. This is an important development, as it proves that Russia doesn’t require international assistance to build its own icebreakers. With Russia still under massive international sanctions, finding cooperative nations to build their ships has been impossible.

The new icebreaker, The Alexey Kosygin, is the first of three Russian-made icebreakers to come by next year, and boosts the country’s hopes of being the dominant marine force in the north.

Let’s go over to Norway, where an argument over sharing money is plaguing the football league. In a story published by sports news agency, VG, on Wednesday the 24th, clubs in Norway are arguing over $7 million US dollars in payments from the European football body, UEFA, to the Norwegian football body. This money has largely come from the success of the Arctic club, Bodø/Glimt, in European competitions.

Under UEFA rules, the money can be shared among clubs in Norway’s second tier, but only if three-quarters of clubs in the top division agree. That threshold was not reached, with five clubs voting against sharing the funds. Critics from clubs in the second division argue the decision undermines Norway’s tradition of sporting solidarity, while opponents say the money should stay with the clubs that earned it.

At least in Finland they know how to share. On Monday the 29th, Reuters reported that Finland’s Arctic soldiers are conducting a six-week training exercise with the British military, teaching the Brits how to survive Arctic conditions that can reach minus thirty degrees Celsius, or minus twenty-two Fahrenheit.

Among the skills being learned are fighting while on skis, keeping warm without a fire, and even swimming in ice-cold lakes. With military tensions increasing in the Arctic, soldiers from around the world may need to practice surviving in the far north.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

t want to wish you an awesome: 2026

Mana