ARCTIC: New Source of Greenhouse Gases & more – 7th Jan 2025

Bures from BA! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 7th of January twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

As the new year begins, the outlook for the Arctic's warming remains bleak. On Friday the 3rd, a study published in Nature Geoscience revealed a massive new carbon dioxide source in Alaska’s Arctic. Researchers analyzed a sediment core from beneath Goldstream Lake and found completely melted under-lake permafrost. Shockingly, this submerged permafrost emits twice the greenhouse gases of surface permafrost. This previously unmeasured source is estimated to release 90 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, equivalent to the emissions of 200 million cars. The discovery significantly alters global climate projections, offering a clearer but more troubling picture of Arctic warming’s impact.

Next up, climate change is causing unpredictable weather patterns across the world, and many people across Europe and North America felt the effects of a changing Arctic over the New Year. Since Thursday the 2nd, there has been a danger of death, and the National Meteorological Institutes has issued weather alerts because of snow, cold weather, and ice across the northern hemisphere.

The Norwegian Met Office confirmed this is due to a massive polar cyclone, a phenomenon that causes sudden and severe drops in temperature. While once a very rare weather event, Norway has been suffering from these cyclones every year in recent history. Climate change in the Arctic is having big impacts now across the whole global north.

Arctic politics are just as unstable as the climate. On Monday the 6th, Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, announced he would step down as soon as his political successor was confirmed. Trudeau, who became Liberal leader in twenty thirteen and prime minister in the fall of twenty fifteen, has been under harsh scrutiny since Chrystia Freeland, his deputy prime minister, unexpectedly resigned on the day she was expected to present Canada’s economic statement.

Freeland later revealed she resigned in protest of Trudeau’s leadership, which fueled intense government criticism. As a result, the leader of the second-largest Arctic nation stepped down weeks before the US confirms its own new government.

Change is very much in the air in this new year. In his New Year’s Day speech on Wednesday the 1st, Mute Egede, Greenland's Prime Minister, announced his ambition to make Greenland a fully independent nation. Greenland’s political future has been under particular scrutiny since US President Trump made his second attempt to buy it from Denmark last month.

Egede’s speech didn’t mention Trump or the US; instead, he said that under Danish rule, Greenland was not treated as an equal and that Greenland needed to remove the shackles of colonialism to forge its own future.

Speaking of Greenland, on Tuesday the 2nd, the Greenlandic government announced an extensive aid package to help residents cope with rising living costs. South Greenland has struggled with poor ice conditions in the last year, which have made the key industries of fishing and tourism lose vital income. The government has prioritized these measures in response to growing inflation and the unique challenges of living in the Arctic, where costs for basic necessities are higher.

The aid package is a clear step toward reducing financial pressure on Greenlanders and ensuring a stable start to twenty twenty-five for its communities.

Greenland might soon find itself sharing a border with Russia. As reported by the Inuit news agency Nunatsiaq News on Thursday the 2nd, Russia is asserting a blood right interest in the Gakkel Ridge, a vast underwater formation stretching from Greenland to Siberia. Russian scientists argue that when the modern continents were formed millions of years ago, Gakkel Ridge was a natural underwater extension of Russia rather than an independent formation. Therefore, the ridge is still a part of Russian territory. The country plans to present this theory to the UN and will claim sovereign rights over this huge stretch of Arctic, expected to hold huge amounts of untapped oil and gas.

To learn more about this tract of ocean, which could play a big role in Arctic politics soon, take a look at the link in the show notes.

Russia isn’t the only nation trying to expand its influence in the Arctic. The US Department of Defense is concerned about China's growing presence. According to a report covered by news agency gCaptain on Thursday the 2nd, China is increasing its economic and scientific activities in the region. These activities include investments in Arctic infrastructure, partnerships with Russia and Scandinavia, and scientific research, all of which the Pentagon views as part of a broader strategy to secure access to natural resources and establish a strategic foothold.

The report warns that China’s presence could challenge existing governance and security dynamics in the region, potentially undermining U.S. and allied interests in the rapidly changing Arctic.

To counter foreign powers in the Arctic, the US is making very slow steps. After a decade of waiting, on Thursday the 2nd the US Coast Guard announced it was finally beginning construction on its first heavy icebreaker in fifty years. While Russia and China have been building many new icebreakers recently, the US has fallen behind in its shipbuilding. The Coast Guard believes that once they’ve completed their first new ship, more will follow, and the US will create a fleet of ice-class vessels able to secure the US Arctic.

Talking about the US, two weeks before it confirms its new president, on Monday the 6th, President Joe Biden announced a sweeping ban on new offshore oil and gas development, protecting 625 million acres of federal waters, over 2.5 million square kilometers, including much of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans. Biden’s decision aims to combat climate change and conserve thirty percent of US waters by twenty thirty. The ban, seen as symbolic in some areas that have never had drilling prospects, still safeguards key ecosystems like Alaska's northern Bering Sea.

Trump responded to the announcement by stating that he would reverse the ban immediately, but the law requires an act of Congress to do so.

To know more about this story, check out the Rorshok Ocean Update with the link in the show notes!

Over in Canada’s Northwest Territories, a new environmental project is underway to protect aquatic life in Frame Lake, Yellowknife. News outlet CBC News reported on Thursday the 2nd that the mining company Rio Tinto installed an aerator to increase oxygen levels in the lake, which is critical for the survival of fish during the winter months. Rio Tinto operates the nearby Diavik mine which Canada’s fishery authorities blame for the environmental degradation of Frame Lake.

The Fishery Authorities have mandated that Rio Tinto compensate for their environmental destruction by committing to projects such as this aerator. This project aims to improve the lake's health, highlighting efforts to balance urban growth with environmental sustainability in the Arctic.

Balancing environmental health and economic growth is a real concern in the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Tourism has exploded in recent years in the region, so to keep the fragile environment safe, a new set of conservation regulations came into effect on Wednesday the 1st. Among the many new rules are that everyone must keep between 300 and 500 meters (about 1,000 to 1,600 feet) away from polar bears, depending on the time of year, and any cruise ship that spots a polar bear is not allowed to sail toward it.

Tourists are likely to be disappointed by these new laws, with the dream of a selfie with a polar bear now impossible, but the animals that live in Svalbard will welcome a more undisturbed environment.

Finally, to Iceland. The final controversial act of the outgoing government was to grant a new five-year license to hunt whales, but a survey released by the Icelandic Nature Conservation Association on Friday the 3rd reveals that half of Icelanders are unhappy with the license being issued. Looking closer at the survey results reveals huge generational divides. While older Icelanders generally support the practice, younger generations overwhelmingly oppose it, with a significant majority of respondents under thirty-five wanting it banned entirely.

The new Icelandic government has a delicate balancing act to play, and meeting the opposing desires of the population will not be simple.

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

Thanks for sticking around for this episode of the Rorshok Arctic update! Thank you for your support, shares, and feedback. Got ideas, suggestions, or just want to say hi? Just drop us a line at info@rorshok.com.

Here’s to another year of keeping you on the loop with what's going down North of the Arctic Circle. Happy twenty twenty-five!

Mana