Curiously Polar

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It's Aurora season and capturing this amazing phenomenon in the ionosphere isn't as difficult as you think. Chris and Henry look at photos and discuss their experiences and stories around the pictures. The most important things to watch out for is to dress warm (because it's cold), watch stray light, expose long, use a tripod if you can, include something nice in the foreground, maybe even a reflection in water and if you're on a ship, time the waves and find a fix foreground.

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Once a thick and resilient structure, Arctic sea ice is now thinner and more vulnerable to the seasons than ever before, according to new NASA research. 2020's Arctic sea ice cover shrank to the second-lowest extent since modern record-keeping began in the late 1970s. An analysis of satellite data by NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder shows that the 2020 minimum extent, which was likely reached on Sept. 15, measured 3.74 million square kilometres (1.44 million square miles).

Combining satellite data and submarine sonars, the study reveals that 70 percent of today's ice cover consists of seasonal ice, the stuff that forms and melts within a single year, instead of thicker, established ice. While younger sea ice does grow faster, more coverage is not always better. Seasonal sea ice, no matter how extensive, cannot trump the durability of old age and volume.

With a flimsier foundation, Arctic sea ice will find itself increasingly beholden to the whims of the wind and weather. It will also melt far more easily come summertime and especially as global warming continues to heat up our seasons and our oceans.

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As COVID-19 sweeps the planet, measure to contain the virus are affecting research programs on both, the Arctic and Antarctic. While in the Arctic, travel restrictions of countries like Norway, Greenland, Canada and the US restricts resupply of existing projects on the Greenlandic icecap as well as in the Arctic Ocean, the far south is even more affected. Medical care in Antarctica being limited, most research programs have been put on halt and are going to have to take a gap year. And even though no project is being cancelled, no activities are being cancelled, it's all just being postponed, there are only a few years left to make some very significant changes to avoid the worst of climate change consequences, and science can’t afford to wait an entire year.

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While the Arctic warms up to six times faster than the rest of the world according to the latest findings, the melting of glaciers leads to the discovery and/or formation of new islands. In 2019, Norwegian researchers discovered on satellite images that with the melting of the Bragebreen and Gimlebreen glaciers the previous Brageneset headland on the southwestern tip of Nordaustlandet has turned out to be an island of approximately 10km2. Similar cases emerged already in the Russian High Arctic where research vessels of the Russian Navy discovered new islands in the archipelagos Novaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. The largest of the five new islands is 54,500 km2. In 2015-2018, more than 30 new islands, bays, capes and straits were found. And that is not the end of the story. Polish researchers have discovered changes to the map of Norway, which could result in the country’s largest Arctic island splitting in two. Radar soundings by Polish researchers show that Spitsbergen could split in two as the Hornbreen and Hambergbreen glaciers on the island retreat every year. This would create a new channel of water between the seas on either side of the island – effectively splitting the island. “The conclusion coming from the surveys is that the glacier bed is below sea level and no obstacles have been identified that might prevent connection of the Barents Sea and the Greenland Sea when glaciers have retreated,” Polish researcher Mariusz Grabiec says.The northern parts of the Barents Sea and Spitsbergen are among the places with the fastest temperature rise on our planet. Svalbard, the fastest-heating place on earth, is a live laboratory for everyone studying the dramatic effects of the climate crisis. While world leaders travel to New York on September 23 for the UN Climate Action Summit to find ways to limit the global temperature to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels, temperatures on Svalbard have already risen by 4 °C. At Spitsbergen, the largest island on the archipelago, both permafrost and glacier are melting in a speed nobody could predict a few years ago. It will likely be not the last new islands to appear in the Arctic.

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This year marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most remarkable international treaties - The Spitsbergen Treaty. Signed in times of tremendous turmoil right after World War I the 14 countries recognises the sovereignty of Norway over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, at the time called Spitsbergen. Over the years, more than 40 states have ratified the treaty grant numerous rights to the signatory countries, such as access to Svalbard including the right to fish, hunt or undertake any kind of maritime, industrial, mining or trade activity. But the times of the celebrations are overshadowed by threats and gestures from parties who interpret the contract differently. And so it remains exciting to see where the next 100 years of the contract will lead, that taught lessons of territorial temptation and regulates the handling of the northernmost part of Europe.

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The ‘shore of two oceans’ is home to an ancient, Paleo-Siberian group of Arctic natives. With roughly 16,000 people the Chukchi who live in the interior of the Chukchi peninsula have traditionally been herdsmen and hunters of reindeer, while those who live along the coasts of the Arctic Ocean, the Chukchi Sea, and the Bering Sea have customarily hunted sea mammals such as seals, whales, walruses, and sea lions. The Chukchi call themselves the Lygoravetlat, which means "genuine people." In their long, turbulent and changeable history, the Chukchi did not have many constants, and its cultural traditions, such as music and shamanism, have suffered particularly in recent history.

The Chukchi represent a kind of bridge between cultures and combine throat singing with drum dance, later also with classical singing. Their unbreakable link with the natural world is found over and over in Chukchi folklore. The rich tradition, nurtured by centuries of development, is made up of numerous tales of animals and people. What is unique for the Chukchi, however, is that only women practiced both the local form of throat singing and drum dancing in order to say goodbye to the men who set off on the hunt. But in addition to the state-organized ethnic folklore groups, there are also young, up-and-coming bands that integrate the traditional music of the Chukchi into contemporary music.

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In the beginning of June Russia has declared a state of emergency, just five days after a power plant fuel leak in its Arctic region caused 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil to escape into a local river, turning its surface crimson red. The Ambarnaya river, into which the oil has been discharged, is part of a network that flows into the environmentally sensitive Arctic Ocean. Built on permafrost that’s rapidly melting in a warming Arctic, the pillars that supported the plant’s fuel tank started to sink. Two days passed before local authorities learned of the spill from the Nadezhdinsky Metallurgical Plant. Even then, local officials only learned of the spill from social media. The plant is operated by a division of Nornickel, whose factories in the area have made the city of Norilsk one of the most heavily polluted places on Earth.

Open a map of the area

The surprisingly open media coverage of this incident gives an unprecedented insight into mining and drilling operations in the Russian Arctic and its connected threats for the fragile environment.

Environmentalists have said the river would be difficult to clean, given its shallow waters and remote location, as well as the magnitude of the spill. A World Wildlife Fund speaking to the AFP news agency described this as the second-largest known oil leak in modern Russia’s history in terms of volume.

The Russian chapter of activist group Greenpeace said damages to the Arctic waterways could be at least 6 billion rubles (over $76 million), and has compared the incident to Alaska’s 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. Its estimate does not include atmospheric damage due to greenhouse gases and soil pollution. The installed buoys will only help collect a small part of the pollution, leading us to say that nearly all the diesel fuel will remain in the environment. The clean-up effort could take between 5-10 years.

Spread over an immense tundra and forest-tundra zone from the Kanin Peninsula on the European side to the Taimyr Peninsula on the Siberian side of the Russian North, the Nenets are one of 40 Russias indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia, and the Far East. Like their ancestors, they are still mainly nomadic people with their main subsistence coming from hunting and reindeer herding. Their shamanistic and animistic belief system, which stresses respect for the land and its resources, also intimately linked their song tradition with shamanistic ritual in the past. But the Nenet’s song is much more complex and contains several different types. Part four of our exploration of Arctic indigenous music.

Here's what kept Chris busy for the last weeks: PHOTO SENSEI - interactive video sessions with your favorite photographers and educators

Spread over a vast area, covering four countries, the Sámi people have inhabited the arctic and sub-arctic regions of Fennoscandia for over 3,500 years. To make up for past suppression, the authorities of Norway, Sweden and Finland now make an effort to build up Sámi cultural institutions and promote Sámi culture and language. Currently, the revitalisation of the Sami culture has grown strong and the Sami traditions have been reinvigorated by increasing awareness and conscious efforts to preserve the Sami culture as a unique and valued part of the Scandinavian societies. A characteristic feature of Sámi musical tradition is the singing of joik.

Joiks are song-chants and are traditionally sung a cappella, usually sung slowly and deep in the throat with the apparent emotional content of sorrow or anger. In a way, it is similar to the Inuit throat singing and isn’t at the same time. Using the voice and forming sounds deep in the throat might appear similar, the outcome and performance, however, is completely different. Joik, the singing tradition of Sami, is considered to be ancient with roots presumably in prehistoric times. It is unique to the Sami culture and particularly among European singing traditions. This singing tradition is characterized by a special vocal technology that utilizes nearly the whole range of the human natural vocal potential and was original without instrumental accompaniment. The use of words could vary from one region to another, from nearly none in the North Sami language area to long epic descriptions in East Sami in the Kola Peninsula. The melodies with regular rhythmic and melodic patterns could often be freely played with and improvised on. Additionally, joik could also be applied to story-telling.

There is a lot of research about joiks and there is even the theory, that the joik have had and possibly still has a role as a health-promoting and/or resilience factor within the Sami culture, giving the Sámi people a significant difference compared to other indigenous people in the Arctic. Usually sung a cappella, musical instruments frequently accompany joiks in recent years. Joik remains an integral part of Sámi culture because of its integrative quality. A joik connects the performer and his or her listeners, not only with each other but with their collective past by uniting it with present experience. As Richard Jones-Bamman has put it: Joiking effectively collapses time. Not all Sámi can perform joik, but knowledge of the genre is still a key symbol of Sámi communal identity. Even though its existence was long denied in public pronouncements, joik has continued to be practiced and heard.

For modern Sámi artists like Sofia Jannok the joiek philosophy remains the base of their work, they delicately blend the old vocal tradition with genres like pop, electronica, and jazz. As South Sámi singer Marja Mortensson has put it: “Joik is like a whole philosophy. It’s about the connection with nature and the people around you. When I joik, my head gets filled with images, and I feel that I travel – either to a place or into the soul of the person I am joiking.”

Check out this Spotify playlist with Sámi music.

In a vast but sparsely populated country music is more than just entertainment. This is even more true in a place like Greenland, the largest island in the world. Where traditional Inuit music like drum dance is mainly performed to entertain tourists today it is even more important to find ways to include those over 4,000 year old traditional elements within modern-day pop culture. And when the record label ULO released the rock band Sumé's first album Sumut in 1973 it singlehandedly kickstarted the local rock scene by uniquely singing in the Greenlandic language and using elements of traditional drum dances in the music. The label, that could be legitimately the world's most successful record label, is today Greenland's only major music label. Their least successful releases sell the equivalent of four times platinum in Europe. Their biggest seller was purchased by an estimated twenty percent of Greenland's total population, in numbers over 10,000 units to a population of only 56,000 people. That equates to twenty-five million sold copies in the states! That only can work because the people in Greenland love listening to their local music. Releasing between 10 and 15 records per year, the music scene in Greenland couldn't be any more diverse. Stretching over half the length of Africa, the biggest island in the world spreads its tiny population along a 44,000 kilometers (27,000 miles) long coastline with no roads between the settlements, far away from each other. Music has become the link between people all over Greenland. And music is the new medium of poetry. Rock and pop present thoughts and ideas to Greenlanders. That makes the country probably the hottest music market in the world - if you compare the sales numbers with the numbers of inhabitants.

Check out the Sounds of Greenland on Spotify.