The New Arctic Frontier: Follow the Heat

Fog running across the surface of Bøkfjorden near the shore of Kirkenes, Norway, is evidence of heat being released from the relatively warm, ice-free waters. (Photograph: © Tom Yulsman) As a frigid blast from the north takes aim on a large part of the United States — again — I'm sitting at the source: the Arctic — where I am paradoxically actually enjoying the benefits of some tropical heat. You can see evidence of that heat in the mosaic of iPhone images above. But before I explain this particular polar paradox, I should say that as I'm writing this I'm in a darkened lecture hall at the Arctic University of Norway in the lovely, cosmopolitan city of Tromsø. I'm here to cover the Arctic Frontiers conference. The name captures the gestalt: The Arctic is warming about twice as fast as the mid-latitudes, which makes this region a new frontier, at ...