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The ship will be ceremonially commissioned in August in Juneau, Alaska, which is the vessel’s homeport. Until then, the icebreaker and two others will be berthed in Seattle, Washington, until infrastructure improvements are made at the ships’ homeport. ... The U.S. Coast Guard’s newest polar icebreaker is officially operational, which the agency says will bolster its Arctic operations. The 360-foot-long icebreaker departed from its assembly port in Pascagoula, Mississippi and was headed to Seattle, where it will be based until renovations are completed at its homeport in Juneau, Alaska. ... The USCGC Storis will join the USCGC Polar Star and...

The U.S. military and Coast Guard are monitoring the simultaneous appearance of five Chinese icebreaking vessels in the Arctic region near Alaska. That unprecedented presence represents two and a half times the number of icebreakers currently capable of being operated in the entire Arctic region by the U.S. Coast Guard. Another is scheduled to be commissioned on Sunday and plans are underway to build dozens more. The Chinese icebreakers, which include a number of research-focused types, are being monitored by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM), a NORTHCOM spokesperson told The War Zone Thursday evening....

Last year, when winter storms revealed a previously-unknown shipwreck on a beach on Sanday Island, one of the Orkney Islands, it launched an investigation by archaeologists and historians to uncover the mysterious vessel's identity. The Herald Scotland reports that researchers from Wessex Archaeology, Dendrochronicle, Historic Environment Scotland, and other local institutions recently tracked down the ship's origins, believing the wreck to be that of the Earl of Chatham, a 500-ton whaling ship that sank in March 1788. Before it was known by that name, however, it was formerly the HMS Hind, a ship with many years of service in the...

Summary Coast Guard seeks to add as many as nine polar icebreakers for Arctic use Arctic seas are increasingly being considered for trade routes Trump has pushed for shipbuilding revival, dozens of icebreakers LOS ANGELES, July 3 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's massive tax and spending bill earmarks more than $8.6 billion to increase the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker fleet in the Arctic, where Washington hopes to counter rising Russian and Chinese dominance.The funding includes $4.3 billion for up to three new heavy Coast Guard Polar Security Cutters, $3.5 billion for medium Arctic Security Cutters, and $816 million for procurement...

The proposal is regarding 13 million acres of government-owned Arctic land that is part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.. The Interior Department on Monday proposed the restoration of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic after it had previously been restricted by the Biden administration. The proposal is regarding 13 million acres of government-owned Arctic land that is part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, which is a total area of 23 million acres that former President Warren G. Harding set aside in 1923 as an emergency supply of oil for the Navy. The Naval Petroleum Reserves...

Buried for hundreds of years, ancient brains are finally speaking. What they’re saying could change everything we thought we knew. A pioneering scientific breakthrough has made it possible to extract proteins from preserved soft tissues, including human brains, revealing a vast archive of biological information that has long remained inaccessible. This new method promises to reshape our understanding of evolution, diet, microbiomes, and even the development of brain cells over millennia. Tapping Into Hidden Biological Archives Every organism is built from proteins—molecules that drive vital processes such as heartbeats and neural communication. When an organism dies, these proteins usually degrade...

Geologists have uncovered a long-lost continental fragment buried beneath the thick ice of Greenland, a discovery that offers new insight into the ancient forces that shaped Earth’s surface. This previously unrecognized microcontinent, formed tens of millions of years ago, is believed to be part of a complex tectonic rift system between Greenland and Canada. The finding not only redefines the geological map of the North Atlantic, but also deepens our understanding of plate tectonic reorganization, continental separation, and how fragments of ancient crust become stranded during the birth of new oceans. Rifting Forces Between Greenland and Canada The region separating...

A sudden stratospheric warming event reversed the winds that make up the northern polar vortex on March 9. A new animation shows the vortex also moved away from the Arctic towards Europe. Between March 1 and March 20, the polar vortex traveled from above the Arctic to above Northern Europe. (Image credit: NOAA Climate) A major disruption to the Arctic polar vortex has bumped the ring of wind that circles the North Pole off its perch and towards Europe, a new animation shows. The migration could trigger colder-than-average temperatures in parts of the continent and across the eastern U.S. over...

Democrat Delaware Sen. Chris Coons told CNN Monday that the “average middle American” is too dumb to identify Greenland on a world map. Coons criticized President Donald Trump’s plan to purchase Greenland from Denmark and make it U.S. territory for resource and national security purposes, arguing that the plan will not resonate with the average American because they do not even know where the island is. Trump said no options for acquiring Greenland are off the table, emphasizing that a takeover of the island is a necessity to protect the U.S. against the threat of Russia and China’s increasing influence...

A test rocket aimed at building the ability to launch satellites from Europe crashed about 40 seconds after takeoff from a Norwegian spaceport on Sunday. The unmanned Spectrum rocket, an orbital rocket developed by German start-up Isar Aerospace, started smoking from its sides and then crashed back to Earth with a powerful explosion after launching from Norway's Andoya Spaceport in the Arctic. The company called the test flight a success. "Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success," Daniel Metzler, Isar's chief executive and co-founder, said in a news release. "We had a clean liftoff, 30...

German start-up Isar Aerospace developed the rocket and had warned ahead of the test that the initial launch could end prematurely. The company said 30 seconds of flight was enough time to register data. "Our first test flight met all our expectations, achieving a great success,"

Russian and Chinese interests don’t align on this particular issue and the dynamics associated with it...Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that “Russia Is Wooing Arctic Gas Buyers With Life After US Sanctions”. They cited unnamed sources to report that Novatek, the company behind the Arctic LNG 2 megaproject, is courting American, European, and even Indian buyers ahead of Trump possibly curtailing or lifting sanctions on their initiative as part of the nascent Russian-US “New Détente”. According to them, a senior executive pitched this as “a way to counter a rising China”, which has a certain logic to it.From those three potential...

"The Arctic is changing faster than anywhere else on the planet, so the question we’re trying to ask here is: Is the Arctic going to change fast, or really fast?" NASA's most ambitious Arctic voyage to date has revealed surprisingly high concentrations of ice particles in clouds over Greenland, a clue that may help explain why Arctic ice is melting even faster than predicted. "The Arctic is changing faster than anywhere else on the planet, so the question we're trying to ask here is: Is the Arctic going to change fast — or really fast?" Patrick Taylor, the deputy science...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19 U.S.C. 1862) (Trade Expansion Act), it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Policy. Copper is a critical material essential to the national security, economic strength, and industrial resilience of the United States. Copper, scrap copper, and copper’s derivative products play a vital role in defense applications, infrastructure, and emerging technologies, including clean energy, electric vehicles, and advanced electronics. The United States faces significant vulnerabilities in the copper supply...

President Trump signed an executive order overlooked by some in the media on his first day of office that experts tell Fox News Digital will play a critical role in developing mineral resources in the United States. On the first day of his presidency, Trump signed an executive order advancing the Ambler Access Project, a 211-mile industrial road through the Brooks Range foothills that enables commercial mining for copper, zinc and other materials in a remote Arctic area in Northwest Alaska. That executive order, one of dozens signed by Trump in the early hours of his administration, reverses a move...

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte agreed with US President Donald Trump regarding Greenland, particularly on the issue of defense, Bild reports. "When it comes to defense in the Arctic, Trump is right. What I think is very good is that the Prime Minister of Denmark immediately began negotiations with President Trump. Essentially, it was about the high relevance of defense in the far north," he said. According to Rutte, this applies not only to Greenland but also to Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Canada. "We all need to work together to protect these territories. And Trump is right," emphasized the...

A Russian nuclear icebreaker has been damaged in a collision with a cargo ship in the Arctic Circle, according to Russian media. The 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory) icebreaker was attempting to free the freighter Yamal Krechet from ice which was preventing it from reaching the port of Sabetta, in the Kara Sea, according to an expert. Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for comment via email. Why It Matters The 50 Let Pobedy nuclear icebreaker is one of only two remaining vessels in the first-generation Arktika-class still in service, according...

The new US President wants to take over the mineral-rich island as its rapidly melting ice sheets open it up to mining. Trump declared over the weekend “I think we’re going to have it” following what sources described as a “fiery phone call” with the prime minister of its current owner Denmark. But should Denmark decide to flog it off the UK should get first chance to snap it up, political chiefs said. Britain has a 108-year-old “right-to-buy” clause that puts it in poll position to acquire the island. According to the last Danish minister for the Arctic island Tom...

Manifest Destiny met luxury cosmetics when makeup billionaire and Republican donor Ronald Lauder mentioned buying Greenland to the president. President Donald Trump was reportedly convinced to try annexing Greenland by cosmetics billionaire and college friend Ronald Lauder. Greenlanders, meanwhile, are not sold on the idea.Mother Jones illustration; Evan Vucci/AP; Michael Kappeler/Picture Alliance/Getty The United States has been trying to annex Greenland for centuries. The massive island in the Arctic—which is home to 56,000 people and holds vast oil and mineral reserves—is currently an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward planned to...

Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede said on Friday he was ready to speak with US President-elect Donald Trump, who has said he wants control over the Arctic island, and urged respect for the island’s independence aspirations. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has described US control of Greenland, a semi-autonomous Danish territory, as an “absolute necessity.” He did not dismiss the potential use of military or economic means, including tariffs against Denmark. At a Copenhagen press conference, when asked if he had had contact with Trump, Egede responded: “No, but we are ready to talk.” Danish Prime Minister Mette...