Gray Zones in the a Blue Arctic: Grappling with China's Growing Influence. A few days ago, Ocean Network Canada confirmed that it had installed four underwater monitoring devices built by the Sanya Institute of Deep Sea Science and Engineering, a unit of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, less than 200 miles from Naval Base Kitsap in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as part of a grid of marine sensors stretching up to the Arctic. In September, Greenland's courting of Chinese investors and construction companies to help expand three airports prompted the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States to " strategically invest" in building infrastructure on the island. Also in September, China's icebreaker, the Xue Long (Snow Dragon), returned to Shanghai after its ninth research expedition to the Arctic, where it collected submarine typography. These are just a few recent examples in a long string of "gray-zone" activities - that is, competitive activities in the space between traditional war and peace - that China has employed to gain access in and influence over Arctic nations and their people.
War on the Rocks
The Future of Arctic Shipping: Russia's Northern Sea Route Gets More Tanker Traffic, but it Remains a Risky Endeavor. As Arctic ice melts, the Northern Sea Route will stay navigable for longer periods, a result that could drastically change international trade and shipping. In February, China announced its "Polar Silk Road" plan that encourages Chinese companies to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages in the Arctic. By 2030, Russia plans to invest billions of dollars to develop infrastructure along the Northern Sea Route to facilitate ships traveling from Asia to Europe.
Wall Street Journal
'Rewilding' Landscapes with Rhinos and Reindeer Could Prevent Fires and Keep Arctic Cool. Restoring reindeer, rhinoceroses, and other large mammals could help protect grasslands, forests, and tundra from catastrophic wildfires and other threats associated with global warming, new studies suggest. The findings give advocates of so-called trophic rewilding-reintroducing lost species to reestablish healthy food webs-a new rationale for bringing back the big grazers. Rewilding offers "solutions to some of the important problems arising from climate change," says ecologist Jens-Christian Svenning of Aarhus University in Denmark, an editor of a special issue on the topic published this week in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.
Science
Canadian Coast Guard to Increase Focus on Arctic Through Creation of New Branch. The Canadian Coast Guard is increasing its focus on the Arctic. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jonathan Wilkinson is announcing that the coast guard is creating a new branch devoted solely to looking after Canada's northern waters. The new coast guard zone will be accompanied by an extensive set of talks across the North to discuss what the coast guard's future role in those rapidly changing seas should be.
North Shore News
US Carriers are Operating in the Arctic Circle for the First Time in Decades. A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is operating north of the Arctic Circle for the first time in twenty seven years. The USS Harry S. Truman and its escorts are currently operating in the Norwegian Sea, practicing cold weather operations-and acting as a not so subtle hint to Russia. During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy routinely operated north of the Arctic Circle. In the event of war, the Navy would have sent several carrier battle groups into the Norwegian Sea to attack Soviet naval facilities in the Murmansk region.
Popular Mechanics
Coast Guard Icebreaker Crew Completes Second Arctic Mission. The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy completed their second mission of their Arctic West Summer 2018 deployment Thursday. Mission 1802 was a scientific mission to study stratified ocean dynamics in the Arctic (SODA) for the Office of Naval Research. The project, led by Dr. Craig Lee of the Applied Physics Laboratory at the University of Washington, Seattle, aims to better understand how the Arctic environment affects the different water layers of the Arctic Ocean.
Military.com