The Arctic This Week Take Five: Week of December 3, 2018
Growing Iron Mine Threatens to Consume Town in Northern Lapland
On December 2, The Guardian reported that the world’s biggest iron ore tunnel mine, Kiirunavaara, located in Northern Lapland is about to swallow the town of Kiruna. Over the last century excessive mining has undermined the town. The caverns beneath the town have weakened the structures of the buildings and have opened a crack in the earth that grows wider and closer to the town every year. Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara AB (LKAB), the state-owned company that operates the mine, has suggested moving the city since 2004. The plan would give the 18,000 residents of Kiruna three options. People can chose to have LKAB move them to a new apartment in the new city, buy them out for 125% of market value, or if possible move their current house to the new city. The new city will be located two miles to the east, and the relocation is to be completed between 2035 and 2040. The first construction project is already done, a town hall that officially was opened on November 22 of this year (dezeen, HuffPost, The Guardian).
Take 1: The movement of towns and cities as a result of mining operations or other industries is not a new phenomenon. In the 1910s, the town of Hibbing, Minnesota, was for example relocated two miles away due to a mine. However, the Kiruna relocation is expected to cost about $1 billion, more than any relocation cost ever in the world. In addition, relocating the city is going to put more pressure on the Sami people. The Sami are the indigenous people of Lapland whose reindeer herding already has been disrupted by the mining activity in the current town. Moving a whole city east will take away more land from reindeer herding and will continue to deprive indigenous people of their way of life.
New Arctic Marine Area Set to Be Created in Canada
This week, The Canadian government reached a deal with Inuit groups to establish a new marine protected area in the Arctic. Set to be created in March, the newly renamed Tallurutiup Imanga National Marine Conservation Area (an area formerly called Lancaster Sound) will encompass the waters north of Baffin Island, an estimated 100,000 square kilometers. The area has a diverse range of wildlife; polar bears, walrus, seals, and a large portion of the world’s narwhals. Since the 1960s the Inuit have sought to protect the area and have gone to court in the past to block oil and gas surveys of it (The Province).
Take 2: Besides protecting an area that has a diverse ecosystem, this deal also helps local indigenous communities. The protected area needs guardians, and within the deal such jobs are included for the five Nunavut communities near the area. The communities also benefit, as they will get small craft harbors, allowing people to safely dock. Finally, the deal also promises to provide mobile food processing facilities, a much-needed thing as it can increase the amount of food local hunters can provide their communities. Agreements like this, if successful, show that both the government and local communities can benefit from protected areas if they work and compromise together.
China Builds World’s First Arctic LNG Tanker
On December 4, it was announced that Guangzhou Shipyard International Co. Ltd, a shipyard in China, has completed building the world’s first Arctic LNG tanker capable of operating in temperatures below minus 50 degrees Celsius. The tanker has been named Boris Sokolov, has a cargo carrying capacity of 43,300 tons, and can break through ice up to 1.8 m thick. It will be handed over to Dynacom of Greece, and primarily be used to serve the world’s largest LNG project, the Yamal LNG plant in northwest Siberia. A Long-term agreement ensures that LNG will be transported from Sabetta to customers in Europe and Asia (Aker Arctic, China Plus, Sputnik).
Take 3: The new tanker is designed to cope with the extreme cold of the Arctic, and it meets the highest rating of ice-breaking ability. It will allow Yamal LNG to be transported regularly during the winter, and not just during the summer. Another thing to note is that it is a Chinese shipyard that has built the tanker. This, like many other recent examples, demonstrates China’s increased involvement in the polar region. It is a clear reminder of how non-Arctic states are now showing increased interest in the Arctic. China not only talks about being a regional leader in the Arctic, it also follows through with its actions.
Increased Arctic Sea Ice Growth Does Not Prevent Future Ice-Free Arctic
On December 6, NASA Earth Science announced in an official press release the results from a new study in the Arctic. A team of researchers used climate models and observations of sea ice thickness from the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite to study sea ice growth variability across the Arctic. The findings reveal that the Arctic sea ice will increase up to 5 feet over the winter in the coming decades, compared to about 3.3 feet in the 1980s. Even though the rate of growth has increased and will continue to increase for several decades, the ice pack will on average be reduced. In the 1980s the Arctic sea ice was on average 6.6 feet thick in October, but in the future, it is only expected to be around 3.3 feet thick in October (AGU Blogosphere, NASA).
Take 4: The results show that the amount of sea ice growing in winter doesn’t overcome the large increase in melting ice that is currently observed. Even with increased ice growth, ice cover is not recovering. Ice melting is instead being delayed. Ice would be declining even faster than it currently is if it wasn’t for the ice thickening at a faster rate during winter. The sea ice is able to grow at a faster rate now than when it was colder due to the fact that sea ice thickens from below, as seawater under ice freezes. Without the regular ice layer providing a level of insulation, the usually covered seawater has greater access to the colder arctic temperatures and thus freezes at a faster rate. Future predictions indicate that by the middle of the century, increasing atmospheric and oceanic temperatures will stop this from happening, contributing to an ice-free Arctic.
The Magic of the Season
On December 3, Mads Nordsveen, a Norwegian photographer posted pictures of an encounter he had over the weekend with a rare white reindeer calf. This rare happenstance occurred when Mr. Nordsveen and his friends were out hiking on the northern Norwegian island of Senja. While the calf seemed nervous at first, it eventually made its way to the hikers, allowing Mr. Nordsveen to take several pictures, which quickly went viral after he posted them online (BBC, Washington Post).
Take 5: According to some indigenous traditions, sighting a white reindeer is considered good luck. The indigenous Sami people view the sighting of such elusive animals as being a sign of happiness. Contrary to what most believe, an all-white reindeer does not mean it’s an albino reindeer. This spotted calf gained its unusual appearance as a result of a genetic condition that reduces pigment from its fur. Albinism results when there is no pigmentation to begin with, and while the animals also have white fur, they usually also have pink eyes.