ARCTIC: Slowdown of Ice Melt & more – 26th Aug 2025

Terve from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Arctic Update from the 26th of August twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what’s going down North of the Arctic Circle!

The Arctic received some mixed news about its future this week. On Wednesday the 20th, The Guardian reported on a new piece of research published in the journal, Geophysical Research Letters, which reveals that there has been a dramatic slowdown in the rate of Arctic sea ice melting. The study evaluated the rate of sea ice decline since records began in nineteen seventy-nine, and found that since two thousand five, the rate of ice melt has dropped to almost nothing.

The scientists in charge of the study attribute this change to normal variations in the ocean temperatures that have been naturally cooler in the last twenty years. However, according to the researchers, the concern is that this natural, cooler period will come to an end, and that probably, in the next five to ten years, the ice will resume melting at a rate double the record rate.

Securing the healthy future of the Arctic means addressing plastic pollution as well as climate change. According to the Inuit Circumpolar Council’s statement from Thursday the 21st regarding the latest round of UN plastic pollution talks, a global agreement failed to materialize. But the good news is that the latest draft of the global plastics treaty now includes Indigenous Peoples’ Rights for the first time.

With the Arctic now being the most microplastic-polluted region on earth, the Inuit Circumpolar Council is fighting to ensure the native inhabitants of the region are a key part of global talks to combat plastic pollution.

There may be talks to reduce plastic in the Arctic, but the number of cargo ships is only increasing. On Monday the 18th, the news agency Arctic Today reported that China’s Ningbo–Zhoushan Port is preparing to launch a new shipping route via the Arctic to Europe.

Currently, ships heading from China to Europe must take up to fifty days as they travel through the Suez Canal or around Africa. But according to Ningbo port, this new route, set to begin on the 20th of September, will bring goods to Europe in just eighteen days.

The Arctic Ocean is now officially open for regular shipping business.

With the north undergoing huge changes, Arctic nations are looking to cooperate to secure their futures. On Tuesday the 19th, the governments of Canada and Finland announced they have agreed on a new strategic partnership to increase trade and security cooperation in the Arctic.

A key aspect of the agreement is collaboration on developing new icebreaker vessels to ensure that the fleets of both nations are able to monitor and defend the Arctic against the increasing threat of Russia in northern waters.

Remaining in Canada’s north, there’s a boost for renewable energy in the territory of Nunavut. According to the Nunavut news agency, Nunatsiaq News, four large-scale solar power projects have been completed across the territory this summer. One of them has been completed in Grise Fiord, which is the northernmost community in North America, and has a small population of just 140 residents.

Such remote communities currently rely on old diesel generators that are prone to failure, and create air pollution. With these new solar power systems, remote Arctic communities are able to enjoy a more reliable and sustainable energy source.

The US is making big moves in Arctic infrastructure too. On Thursday the 21st, Arctic Today reported that the Alaskan city of Nome has finally made progress on constructing the US’s first deepwater Arctic port. The US Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the project, has awarded a $400 million US dollar contract to the Kiewit Infrastructure company to complete the construction.

Once complete, the project will totally transform the economic capabilities of Nome and Alaska. The US Arctic will suddenly be able to receive the largest vessels in the world, ranging from cruise ships to navy and large commercial vessels.

Elsewhere in Alaska, Indigenous communities are celebrating a legal victory against the state government. On Friday the 22nd, a federal court ruled against the Alaskan government over its attempt to take control of fishing rights from the subsistence communities that live along the Kuskokwim River in southwest Alaska.

This river has been running low on salmon stocks in recent years, so the state of Alaska attempted to claim authority to decide who can take salmon from the river. This would have removed the rights of subsistence harvesting of the local Indigenous communities who rely on what food the Kuskokwim can provide.

Now, after a three-year legal battle, the courts have determined that the state of Alaska needs to stop interfering in the rights of its remote communities.

Following on from last week’s story of the moving church in Sweden, on Thursday the 21st, the Associated Press reported that the Kiruna church has safely completed its five-kilometer, about three-mile journey to the new city center. The church has been closed for a year as preparations for the move started, but with doors due to reopen soon, some changes are being made.

Worship services will no longer be conducted only in Swedish, but in minority languages of the region as well. Northern Sami, Finnish and Meänkieli will all be incorporated into worship services to reflect the diverse range of cultures that live in Sweden’s northernmost municipality.

Let’s move over to Greenland, where history is being uncovered all thanks to dogs.

In research published by the University of Copenhagen on Thursday the 21st, geneticists, who have been studying the DNA of Greenlandic sled dogs, have, for the first time, found genetic evidence that the ancestors of today’s Greenlandic population traveled with their dogs from Canada to the nation several hundred years earlier than previously assumed.

This puts the timeline of the current Inuit population arriving in Greenland at over 1,000 years ago.

Meanwhile, in Iceland, another volcano might be about to erupt. Scientists from the Institute of Earth Sciences spoke with the national newspaper RUV on Wednesday the 20th, saying that the Hekla volcano could erupt at any time.

Hekla was named the gateway to hell during medieval times due to its violent eruptions that would cause ash to rain over Europe. The scientists say that the magma accumulation is now over the level it was when it previously erupted in two thousand .

Though there hasn’t been a violent eruption since nineteen forty-seven, the Gates of Hell may be about to open once again.

A much less grand opening is occurring in Norway, but one that could be very important. On Monday the 25th, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that the state is setting up a new office for the Norwegian Communications Authority in Tromsø, in the north.

The country is establishing this office because GPS jamming and spoofing, the act of fake and disruptive radio signals being sent to cause communication breakdowns, has been occurring daily in Arctic Norway since twenty twenty-two. This has been causing serious problems in shipping and air travel, so the government is opening up a special branch in the north to detect and react to these nefarious signals much quicker.

Let’s wrap up this edition with an Indigenous music and dance festival that lit up northern Finland. News agency, Arctic Today, reported on Monday the 25th that the Ijahis idja festival, meaning Nightless Night, recently took place in Inari, Finland. This festival is the only Sami music festival in Finland, but since two thousand four it has drawn people from all over the Arctic for two days of traditional music and dancing on an open sky dance floor.

To see for yourself what kind of beautiful music and dance was on display here, take a look at the link in the show notes.

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

The new Ramble on Georgian Slang is out now! Check out the hashtag #georgianslang. You can find the episode in the Rorshok Georgia Update on your favorite streaming platform or follow the link in the show notes!

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