Everything polar one click away

For nearly a thousand years, Greenlandic sled dogs, or Qimmit, have accompanied Inuit communities across the frozen expanses of the Arctic. A recent genetic study reveals the ancient origins, regional diversity, and cultural importance of these four-legged companions.

China's Arctic Paradox: Calling for Caution Amidst Shipping Expansion

While Chinese scientists issue urgent pleas to limit Arctic shipping to protect the region from the environmental impact, Chinese shipping companies plan on sending more and more vessels into the Arctic

Culture

Whalers’ Memory Bank: When Former Whalers Tell Their Story

A new project launching this week in Dundee brings together long-lost stories, photos and personal artefacts from Scottish whaling communities, not to glorify the industry, but to preserve its human history before it disappears entirely.

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Guest article

Tourism in Greenland: a fragile balance, an update after the elections

In an article for Polar Journal AG, Marie-Noëlle Rimaud advocates "finding a way out from the top, through intelligence". The lecturer and researcher in tourism economics and management calls for the development of a win-win strategy between foreign investors in the tourism sector and the island's inhabitants, who see the importance of this sector for the future of their economy.

Around the polar world

ASOC receives prestigious Gulbenikan Prize for Humanity

The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition (ASOC) has been announced by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation as the winner of the 2025 €1 million Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity, in recognition of their work protecting one of the world’s most climate sensitive regions.

gulbenkian.pt

Inuit Circumpolar Council is official member at IMO

One of the most inflluential inuit representation organisations, the Inuit Circumpolar Council ICC, has been granted the Permanent Consultative Status at the International Maritime Organisation IMO. Thus, the ICC can better help to shape the future of Arctic shipping and its impact on indigenous land and sea areas.

www.inuitcircumpolar.com

Antarctic Treaty Secretariat has new head

The Antarctic Treat Secretariat, the executive body of the Antarctic Treaty, has a new head: The former Head of the Chilean delegation to the meetings, Francisco Javier Berguño, was officially elected as Executive Secretary. He will start his new position on September 1, 2025.

www.ats.aq

Ancient flood plains detected in East Antarctica

Below the ice masses along the coast of East Antarctica, opposite to Australia, an international team detected a massive river landscape that had formed between 80 and 34 million years ago. This area is likely to impact the flow of the glaciers above according to scientists.

www.bas.ac.uk

Novel modelling links sea ice loss to Antarctic ice shelf calving events

New research has for the first time tracked ice shelf, sea ice and ocean swell wave conditions over multiple years in the lead-ups to three large-scale iceberg ‘calving’ events in Antarctica, revealing common patterns.

www.unimelb.edu.au

Politics

Thwaites: countdown to disintegration

The Thwaites Glacier is living out its last years of stability: the disintegration of its floating shelf has begun. As spectators of a predicted collapse, we witness the countdown of a colossus whose melting could raise the oceans by 65 centimetres.

The Polar Retrospective - Successful Antarctic Citizen Science Project, Arctic Toxins and Erupting Volcanoes

The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we take a look at the impact of an NASA backed citizen science project in Antarctica, the increase in toxins levels in the Alaskan Arctic, and melting glaciers that might trigger more volcanoes eruptions.

Beyond the “Greening”: Antarctica, Scientific Debate and the Media Narrative

A 2024 study claimed Antarctica's peninsula is rapidly "greening." However, two new papers challenge this and open a debate of how dramatically Antarctic science should be communicated.

More and more tourists are flocking to Antarctica. Let’s stop it from being loved to death

Professors Darla Hatton MacDonald and Elizabeth Leane explain how new market based tools can help to prevent overtourism in Antarctica in this article provided by The Conversation.

Science

“No Arctic Sovereignty Without Inuit Security”: Nunavut Leads the Arctic Debate

As the Arctic once again attracts military and economic interest, Nunavut reminds Ottawa and the world of a fundamental truth: Canadian sovereignty in the North cannot exist without the Inuit. Gathered in Iqaluit, political leaders, elders, and youth defended a vision rooted in security, culture, and infrastructure.

A bird that's an emperor in name only

No sooner has the emperor penguin begun to reveal its secrets than it's already disappearing. Beacon of a climate in crisis, this emblematic Antarctic bird could disappear before we even get to know it.

The Polar Retrospective – Permafrost thawing, a shift in Nordic skies, and ATCM closure

The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we take a look at ancient permafrost thawing, a change in airline ownership, and the conclusion of Antarctic Treaty meetings without any major declarations.

Antarctic research is in decline, and the timing couldn’t be worse

Despite accelerating climate impacts in Antarctica, international research output is falling, with China overtaking traditional leaders like the U.S. in scientific influence—raising urgent concerns about future governance and global preparedness.

Society

The Canadian Arctic as a Guardian of Earth’s Oldest Secrets

A new study has confirmed that a slice of crust in northern Canada is the oldest on record, solidifying the Arctic region's reputation as a unique window into Earth's fiery birth.

Drone footage captured orcas crafting tools out of kelp – and using them for grooming

The more we learn about orcas, the more remarkable they are. These giant dolphins are the ocean’s true apex predator, preying on great white sharks and other lesser predators.

Do Antarctic anchorages have an impact?

Never-before-seen images filmed in Antarctica show traces of anchoring on a deep, untouched seabed. Without concluding that there is a definite impact, a study invites us to consider the potential effects of human activities on these fragile ecosystems.

The Polar Retrospective - Alaskan senator between ice and oil, Antarctic debates in Milan and leopard seals' diet

The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we take a look at an Alaskan senator facing warming state and icy situation in Washington, at the 47th Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and the impact of leopard seals' diet.

Picture of the month

He drives around icebergs and tells whale stories. Jens Lyberth Svenningsen is originally from southern Greenland, but after working in Denmark as a chef in an international context, he settled in Ilulissat and worked in the fishing industry. He is now employed by a local tourism company to run cruises in Disko Bay aboard an aluminum boat.

Jens Lyberth Svenningsen, local guide in Ilulissat.

Economy

Antarctic Journal from Chile: A Generation's Voice in the Face of Climate Change

In a special report for Polar Journal AG, Milenio BASE Head of Communications Nadia Politis travelled to the Antarctic Peninsula to meet with the winners of the Feria Antárctica Escolar, a unique student project.

The Tara Polar Station, on the front line of Arctic atlantification

Oceanographer Benjamin Rabe plans to study the phenomenon of upwelling of warm water and nutrients already observed at the edges of the Arctic Ocean to see if it will extend towards the North Pole over the next decade. His project is based on the Tara Polar Station and its series of Polaris expeditions. An Interview.

UNOC 2025 : Remember the Polar Oceans !

Anne Choquet, from the University Occidental in Brest, explains why UNOC 25 has forgotten the polar oceans, and why they should be treated equally.

The Polar Retrospective - Competition for krill, new influence Arctic sea ice formation and messages in ice

The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we take a look at competition for krill between animals and trawlers, a new current and its influence on Arctic sea ice, and bubble messages trapped in ice.

Tourism

NONAM celebrates summer solstice with Indigenous circumpolar cultures

Join us this Sunday, June 22 at NONAM. The Zurich-based museum welcomes Indigenous artists, creators, and representatives from the Yukon and Norway for a day of festivities and intercultural dialogue.

Gray whales face food shortages as the Arctic warms

Julia Hager

Disappearing sea ice appears to be putting gray whales in the eastern North Pacific under pressure once again this year: many animals are emaciated, and the number of newborn calves is at a record low.

Polar marine megafauna needs more than Marine Protected areas

A new study shows that the 30% global ocean protection target isn't enough for mobile marine megafauna, especially in polar regions as threats like warming, shipping & plastic demand urgent mitigation beyond MPAs for the survival of these polar dwellers.

Emperor penguin populations are declining twice as fast as predicted