cryopolitics
Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Washington
Arctic geopolitics / critical remote sensing / infrastructure / satellites / skiing ⛷️
- Call for abstracts – RGS-IBG 2026 @rgsibg.bsky.social (1-4 Sept, London) Human Presence Beyond Earth: Critical Geographies of Outer Space 🧑🚀 Full CfP: shorturl.at/1LL4Y 🧪 #geography #outerspace #artemis #artemisII @nasaspaceflight.com
- Reposted by cryopolitics“What Trump is after is an expansion of American territory that would make him a historic president.” @alimacewen.bsky.social is joined by @cryopolitics.com to examine Greenland’s complex history and her views on the reasons behind US threats of annexation. www.landclimate.org/us-greenland/
- Call for Papers: @rgsibg.bsky.social | London | 1-4 September 2026 Investigating the geopolitics of private satellite infrastructure: new pathways for connectivity and conflict Full CfP: docs.google.com/document/d/1... 🧪 #satellites #geography #Starlink
- Blog: Last summer, I ran 45 km to & from #Ilulissat, #Greenland🇬🇱, which is expanding its airport to accommodate jet planes. But as I found, the renovations to the iceberg city's #infrastructure are choking the tundra in dust. ✈️🧊 Read on: www.cryopolitics.com/2026/01/18/t... #airport #trailrunning🧪
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- 📢 New article: Holding up the skies: Is #Starlink occupying Low Earth Orbit?' We calculate that the megaconstellation, which forms a privately-owned planetary infrastructure, equals → 52% of all mass in LEO 🛰️ → 75% of all mass launched LEO btw 2019-2023 🚀 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
- Also interesting: #Starlink is also responsible for more mass in orbital space than any national or multinational entity save the US.
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- Blog: While Trump raises fears of Russian and Chinese ships swarming #Greenland, the island's residents fear the much more real possibility of American ships swarming the world's largest island. www.cryopolitics.com/.../after-ve... #Arctic #geopolitics 🧪
- Not exactly bedtime listening these days, but the audiobook of 'Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the #Arctic' is now out. 🎧🧊🧪 @klausdodds.bsky.social & I were delighted to secure award-winning Canadian narrator Senn Annis to bring our writing off to life. rbmediaglobal.com/audiobook/97...
- Last blog post of 2025 recalling one of the year's highlights: seeing my first polar bear. I'd long wanted to chance upon the #Arctic's apex predator. Finally, while snowmobiling across #Svalbard in May, I saw one where I least expected it. 🐻❄️ 🧪 www.cryopolitics.com/2025/12/28/f... #polarbear
- The #Arctic is perceived as a future military theatre. But while war rages to the south, it has become a safe haven for refugees from #Ukraine and beyond. New blog post drawing on fieldwork in Vardø with @riaadams.bsky.social @infranortherc.bsky.social www.cryopolitics.com/2025/12/19/f... 🧪
- For many remote #Arctic communities, #Starlink is the obvious choice for satellite internet. But #Greenland, wary of the US, is turning to European alternatives. Meanwhile, China and Russia’s military-industrial complexes are linking arms. More on my blog: www.cryopolitics.com/2025/12/04/a...
- Super cool to come across this Vantor (formerly Maxar) WorldView image of the NISAR (NASA - ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite in orbit. A satellite taking a picture of a satellite – very meta... 🛰️ www.linkedin.com/posts/tien-n...
- People often eagerly discuss the end of the Arctic. Yet realizing that the #Arctic Circle Assembly may have peaked could hit a bit too close to home. My latest blog post recaps this year's conference, which just wrapped up in #Reykjavik. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/10/21/h... #geopolitics 🧪
- The Chinese container ship #IstanbulBridge arrived in England from China after a 20-day journey via the Northern Sea Route. But locally, in the town of Harwich, no one seemed to pay much attention. #Arctic #shipping www.cryopolitics.com/2025/10/15/f... 🧪
- I offered some remarks on the closure of the US #Arctic Research Consortium for High North News, which deals yet another blow to regional cooperation – and to communities in Alaska, too. www.highnorthnews.com/en/us-arctic...
- Just as Istanbul Bridge departs China for the UK via the Northern Sea Route, I was excited to be interviewed for the Weekly Biz cover story on #Arctic #shipping in Chosun Ilbo, South Korea's largest newspaper. Some excellent infographics, too. www.chosun.com/economy/week... #NorthernSeaRoute
- Now published! 📢 'Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the #Arctic' Co-authored with @klausdodds.bsky.social, our new book on northern geopolitical & ecological change is out today in the UK. Available in the US from 21 Oct. www.waterstones.com/book/unfroze... #geopolitics #books 🧪
- Check out my blog for a recap of the #Arctic Security Conference 2025, which convened in Oslo for the second time last week. Takeaway: The work of Arctic conferences, as niche as they are, should be to reject rather than reproduce megalomaniacal discourses. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/09/22/a...
- Amazon is seeking to roll back the FCC's five-year deorbit rule, and I had something to say about that. 😁 #spacedebris #satellites
- My book with @klausdodds.bsky.social, 'Unfrozen: The Fight for the Future of the #Arctic', comes out on 23 Sept. We have several events this autumn in the UK including a conversation night @waterstones.bsky.social in London on 14 October. Hope to see you there! www.waterstones.com/events/unfro...
- Might anyone know if there exist shapefiles or rasters of #Arctic sea ice in the 16th or 17th centuries? Thank you! 🧪
- It was inspiring to visit the Humboldt University of Berlin and meet with researchers in the Earth Observation Lab (@humboldteolab.bsky.social) & Conservation Biogeography Lab (@biogeoberlin.bsky.social), who are advancing #RemoteSensing in exciting (and critical!) ways. Vielen Dank! 🛰️
- Colorful houses. Monumental icebergs. Sturdy igloos. These are the structures for which #Greenland is famous. But in #Nuuk, the ones that leave the biggest impression are the block apartments. Read more in my newest blog post. #architecture www.cryopolitics.com/2025/06/11/d...
- Yesterday, by a stroke of luck, I found myself on @icelandair.bsky.social first Boeing 737 MAX flight to #Nuuk, #Greenland. The airport has an expanded runway, which has been lengthened to 2200 meters to accommodate jumbo jets. Blog: www.cryopolitics.com/2025/06/03/t... #Arctic 🧪
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- Looking forward to giving this seminar on commercial spaceports in the #Arctic at CNAM in Paris next month 🚀 ! #astropolitics #geopolitics
- this whole tendency of europeans to randomly throw holidays in the middle of the week is throwing me off
- How can we prevent and mitigate space debris? In a new comment for Communications Engineering @natureportfolio.nature.com, I offer a few targeted interventions across the satellite lifecycle. 🛰️ rdcu.be/enJUS 🧪 #satellites #space #spacedebris
- My latest blog post recaps the #Kirkenes Conference, held last week in the Norwegian town close to the Russian border. It also includes a few reflections on what has changed in Kirkenes since I last visited in 2019. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/05/26/i... #Arctic #geopolitics
- New blog post, the 1st from my week in #Svalbard earlier this month. On the Norwegian archipelago, where the arrival of Mark #Zuckerberg's superyacht & May 1 (Labor Day) each prompted protests, community issues take priority over scrambles for the #Arctic. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/05/16/i... 🧪
- With the Trump administration sabotaging scientific knowledge gathered over half a century, US polar scientists are urgently trying to build their resilience. Read more in my latest blog post: www.cryopolitics.com/2025/05/08/t... 🧪 #Arctic @noaa.gov @polargeospatial.bsky.social #science
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- Reposted by cryopoliticsEffective immediately, the PGC is no longer accepting new NSF-supported requests due to a lack of renewal funding. Current work is wrapping up. Please contact your NSF program officer if impacted. We’re grateful to have supported your polar research. Read our full statement at www.pgc.umn.edu
- On Monday, I attended the the Arctic Six's Forum on #Arctic Security at UiT. Some reflections in my blog: While the Nordic countries are preparing their citizens for the worst, they are neglecting to turn to those who are some of the most self-sufficient: #Sámi. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/04/29/s...
- Tromsø keeps the dream of the '90s alive and splashing As I discovered over the weekend in #Tromsø, here on the #Arctic’s suburban fringe, weekends center on skiing, shopping at the mall, & swimming. In a time of global volatility, it is reassuringly mundane. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/04/27/t...
- I've just started a spring visit to @uitnorgesarktiske.bsky.social in #Tromsø, Norway supported by the #FulbrightArcticInitiative. On my second day in the office, I skied to work! With that, here's a new blog post: www.cryopolitics.com/.../08/skiin... #skiing #Fulbright #Arctic 🧪
- Check out my new (open-access!) article on how #Arctic NGOs use satellite data, information, and knowledge, just published in Digital Geography & Society 🧪 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #remotesensing #criticalremotesensing
- admitting that i am one of the many geographers at #AAG2025 who discovered that Detroit directly borders Canada
- the hourly horror show continues
- "Kindly reply by 3.7 to confirm your availability to review. The review deadline is 3.11." @mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social How is this a serious request from you? Do you actually respect and value the peer-review process? Answer: No.
- In case you missed it, here's my blog post from Feb 22 examining some of the early consequences of Trump's punitive cuts to #Arctic science & #climatechange research. The news is grim for the cuts look likely to extend across generations and far beyond the US.🧪 www.cryopolitics.com/2025/02/22/u...
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- Come meet @patriciaehrkamp.bsky.social, Kate Coddington, Caroline Nagel, and me during the speed review sessions we'll be hosting on behalf of @politicalgeography.bsky.social @geographers.bsky.social in Detroit! #theAAG #AAG2025 Sign up here: www.elsevier.com/events/exhib...
- Looks like a fantastic talk by @tinaadcock.bsky.social on "A Cold Colonialism: Modern Exploration and the Canadian North". Check out the info below! #arctic #envhist #canada
- Join us for “A Cold Colonialism: Modern Exploration and the Canadian North” with Tina Adcock from SFU History. Discover the legacy of Canada's 'exploration' of the far north. Feb 27 | 1 PM | In-person & Online Info: a-cold-colonialism.eventbrite.ca @sfufass.bsky.social @sfuarchaeology.bsky.social
- Blog: With Trump killing off funding and staffing for research into climate change and the #Arctic, the US polar science community is fighting for its life. www.cryopolitics.com/2025/02/22/u... #climatechange #science #Project2025
- Are you thinking about the exploration, exploitation, and enclosure of outer space in critical or creative ways? Participate in our session at the RGS-IBG Annual Conference in Birmingham (25-29 Aug) on exogeographies! docs.google.com/document/d/1... @rgsibg.bsky.social @ellietheelement.bsky.social
- My brilliant former PhD student, Xiaofeng Liu, now an assistant professor at HKUST Guangzhou, just published a new paper on the China-Laos Railway in the journal Territory, Politics, Governance @rsa-tpg.bsky.social. Check it out below. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/BU8PI...
