Arctic Archives

The Global Seed Vault offers a safety net in case of natural catastrophe, war, climate change, disease or manmade disasters

World

Palestinian seeds join Arctic ‘doomsday vault’

A “doomsday vault” in the Arctic designed to safeguard the world’s plant diversity has received a new deposit of thousands of seed samples, including Palestinian...

AFPOctober 23, 2024

Researchers say that climate change is causing thicker, more hazardous ice to choke the fabled "northwest passage" long-sought by navigators seeking a faster route from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans.

World

Melting ice no guarantee of smooth sailing in fabled Arctic crossing: study

Melting sea ice in the fast-warming Arctic Ocean is not making it easier for sailors to navigate a legendary shortcut between Europe and Asia.

AFPJuly 11, 2024

The Svalbard archipelago is located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole

World

For sale: unique piece of land in strategic Arctic archipelago

The last piece of privately owned land in the strategic Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic is up for grabs, a property likely to entice...

AFPMay 17, 2024

NATO's Nordic Response drill was part of the alliance's biggest military exercise since the Cold War

World

NATO prepares for Russian threat in harsh Arctic

Finnish conscript Atte Ohman readied himself aboard a US landing ship to storm a snow-swept Norwegian beach as part of a rapid response unit...

AFPMarch 11, 2024

Siberia's taiga forest, pictured in 2021, is among the regions no longer covered by the INTERACT monitoring network

World

Scientists warn missing Russian data causing Arctic climate blind spots

Loss of scientific data from Russia’s Arctic monitoring stations following the invasion of Ukraine has worsened information gaps that could have serious implications for...

AFPJanuary 22, 2024

A monument to Lenin in Barentsburg in Norway's Svalbard Archipelago, where Russians have been mining coal for decades

World

Russia’s isolation takes toll on Arctic climate science

Glaciologist Andrew Hodson used to collaborate with his Russian colleagues in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, but snowmobile excursions to see them have...

AFPDecember 17, 2023

This aerial photograph taken on August 11, 2023, shows a glacier around "Constable Point" severely melted due to warm temperatures along the Scoresby Sound Fjord, in Eastern Greenland

World

Warmest Arctic summer caused by accelerating climate change

The Arctic saw its warmest ever summer in 2023, the result of accelerating human-caused climate change that is pushing ecosystems and the people that...

AFPDecember 12, 2023