Killing the Arctic

By

John McCannon

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Scientists in an endless vista of ice, sea, and meltwater.

Endless Ice

Scientists in an endless vista of ice, sea, and meltwater as seen from the USCG Icebreaker HEALY. Arctic Ocean, Canada Basin. July 22, 2005.

A sailing ship caught in Arctic ice.

Ship in the Arctic

A sailing ship caught in Arctic ice, 1872.

A group of Inuit people constructing an igloo.

Inuit Builders

A group of Inuit people constructing an igloo with blocks of snow as children and dogs watch, 1924.

A Sámi man and child in Finnmark, Norway.

A Sámi Man

A Sámi man and child in Finnmark, Norway, circa 1900.

The most northern post office in the world.

Svalbard Post Office

The most northern post office in the world located at the research station in Ny Alesund Svalbard, 2015.

Graphic from the 2019 NOAA Arctic Report Card.

Surface Air Temperature

Graphic from the 2019 NOAA Arctic Report Card showing highlights of research on the surface-air temperature in the Arctic.

The whale-oil refinery near the village of Smeerenburg by Cornelis de Man.

Whale-Oil Refinery

The whale-oil refinery near the village of Smeerenburg by Cornelis de Man (1639).

The Pelican stuck in the ice of Hudson Bay in August 1697.

Hudson Bay

The Pelican stuck in the ice of Hudson Bay in August 1697 while making contact with the indigenous Inuit people.

A woodcut depicting whale-fishing.

Whale Fishing

A woodcut depicting whale-fishing, 1574.

The Cossacks of the Yeniseisk Province, Russia collecting iasak.

Russian Fur Trade

The Cossacks of the Yeniseisk Province, Russia, collecting iasak (fur tribute). Ninteenth-century watercolor by an unknown painter.

A crevasse created by water drilling a hole into the glacier ice.

Crevasse

A crevasse created by water drilling a hole into the glacier ice. The cryoconite is the black layer of soot over the ice. Langjökull glacier. July 2006.

A large stream of meltwater emerges from an upstream supraglacial lake.

Streams of Meltwater

A large stream of meltwater emerges from an upstream supraglacial lake in the Greenlandic ice in 2012. The darker shapes are minor streams covered by cryoconite which covers the ice sheet.

A group of men clubbing fur seals on St. Paul Island in Alaska.

Fur Seals

A group of men clubbing fur seals on St. Paul Island in Alaska, 1890s. Fur seals have a dense underfur, which has made them valuable to commercial hunters for centuries.

The cryolite mine in Ivittuut, Greenland.

Cryolite Mine

The cryolite mine in Ivittuut, Greenland, 1940.

A piece of cryolite.

Cryolite

A piece of cryolite from the Ivittuut Cryolite deposit in Greenland.

An abandoned Soviet mining town called Pyramiden.

Pyramiden

On a remote outpost in Svalbard lies an abandoned Soviet mining town called Pyramiden. Occupied from 1927 - 1998, the town once had over 1,000 residents.

A crew from the Red Army's Northern Fleet.

Northern Fleet

A crew from the Red Army's Northern Fleet heading for Kirkenes in 1944.

A 1965 Greenpeace protest.

Greenpeace

A 1965 Greenpeace protest calling for action against the nuclear testing on Amchitka Island, Alaska.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson and his ice party.

Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Vilhjalmur Stefansson and his ice party leaving Collinson Point, Alaska, 1914.

Plenary of the inaugural Sámi Parliament.

Sámi Parliament

Plenary of the inaugural Sámi Parliament in 1989.

A protest against the Alta hydroelectric project.

Alta Protest

A protest against the Alta hydroelectric project which passed through traditional Sámi territories. The project was completed in 1987.

A Royal Navy helicopter carrying out load lifting training.

Military in the Arctic

A Royal Navy helicopter carrying out load lifting training in the mountains surrounding Bardufoss, Norway. 2013

An 1855 sketch by Lt. S. Gurney Creswell.

HMS Investigator

An 1854 Sketch by Lt. S. Gurney Creswell depicting the HMS Investigator stuck in ice during a rescuse mission to search for Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 journey.

Total mass change of the Greenland ice sheet between April 2002 and April 2019.

Greenland Ice Sheet

Total mass change (in Gigatonnes, Gt) of the Greenland ice sheet between April 2002 and April 2019 estimated from GRACE (2002-17) and GRACE-FO (2018/19). NOAA Arctic Report Card 2019.

A painting of Walruses by C. E. Swan.

Walruses

A painting of Walruses by C. E. Swan, 1909.

A 300m long slump caused by thawing permafrost.

Thawing Permafrost

A 300m long slump caused by thawing permafrost at the Noatak National Preserve in Alaska, 2004.

Plenary session of the COP21 for the adoption of the Paris Accord.

Paris Climate Agreement

Plenary session of the COP21 for the adoption of the Paris Accord, United Nations Climate Change Conference. Paris, 2015.

The Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories.

Diamond Mine

The Diavik Diamond Mine in Canada's Northwest Territories. Since opening in 2003, over 100 million carats of rough diamond have been extracted from the mine.

An illustration from Jules Verne's novel.

The Purchase of the North Pole

An illustration from Jules Verne's novel The Purchase of the North Pole drawn by George Roux.

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