High North News - English

A research project has investigated whether noise from Andøya Space's rocket launches reaches the fishing grounds off Andøya in Northern Norway.

This was reported by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund (FHF) in a press release.

"It was barely possible to distinguish sounds that could be linked to the test launch. The sound level corresponds to what we consider to be normal background noise in the ocean," says Tonje Nesse Forland, researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research.

New research from the Institute of Marine Research, funded by FHF, shows that sound from rocket launches at Andøya Spaceport does not propagate far enough into the ocean to affect fish behavior in the important fishing areas off Andøya.

Fishermen have long been concerned about the potential impact of increased space activity on fish, and this research will provide important clarification for them, reads the press release.

278 Asians arrived in Greenland in 2025, contributing to an increase in the overall population of 198.

This is reported by Sermitsiaq.

At the end of the year, 56,740 people were living in the country. The number of people with Danish citizenship continues to decline, as it has for six consecutive years. In addition, the number of people born in Greenland also continues to decline.

Canada and Denmark have signed a defense cooperation agreement on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

That is reported by CBC News.

The agreement follows the Trump Administration's threats to take over Canada and was signed by Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty and Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, together with his Greenlandic and Faroese counterparts, Vivian Motzfeldt and Sirið Stenberg.

"Canada is an Arctic nation — and we will defend the North," McGuinty said in a statement after signing the agreement.

The Danish Ministry of Defense reports that the agreement will strengthen defense cooperation between the two countries in a number og areas, including defense innovation, technology, capacity building, and training, exercise and education.

NATO has launched the mission to strengthen its presence in the Arctic, part of an effort to defuse tensions within the alliance prompted by the U.S. president's push to acquire Greenland from Denmark.

"Our F-35 contribution strengthens the overall presence in the region and underscores Denmark's role as an active ally in the Arctic and North Atlantic," Denmarks minister of defense, Trouls Lund Poulsen said in a statement.

Poulsen also expects the United States to contribute to the NATO mission, he told reporters ahead of the Munich Security Conference.

Russian energy major Gazprom Neft has discovered a new oil field on the Yamal Peninsula that is the largest discovered in the region in three decades, according to a company release.

The new find is located in the Arctic zone of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, home to the world's largest natural gas reserves but also a region with significant oil potential. Drilling and exploration are challenging as the peninsula is almost entirely covered by permafrost.

The field is part of a large oil and gas cluster in the southern part of the peninsula, according to the company. It was discovered after three years of exploration. Estimated geological reserves are 55 million tons, the company's press release stated.

Arviat in Nunavut located along the western shore of Hudson Bay, will be the home of the first Inuit-led university in Canada's Arctic.

This according to CBC News.

The location of the main campus was formally announced in Ottawa on Wednesday afternoon during an event hosted by Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), the national organization representing Inuit.

ITK President Natan Obed said the creation of the first university in Inuit Nunangat — the homeland of Inuit in Canada — is an important step in asserting jurisdiction in the Canadian Arctic.

Heavy storms in recent weeks have caused extensive soil erosion at Reynisfjara, one of Iceland's most famous tourist beaches. The sea has washed right up to the characteristic basalt columns, and large boulders are now scattered across the beach - rocks that were not there before.

Residents tell the Icelandic newspaper Visir that they have never seen such changes before. Experts believe that persistent easterly winds have moved large amounts of sand, and expect some of it to return. It is still uncertain whether Reynisfjara will regain its original shape.

Elkem will temporarily reduce production at its Rana and Salten plants following weak market conditions and increased costs.

Elkem is a leader in environmentally friendly raw material production, and its main products are silicon, silicone, ferrosilicon, casting alloys, carbon materials and microsilica.

In a press release, the company states that demand for silicon products is low, while energy prices have been high. The production cuts will be implemented in a controlled manner to ensure stable operations and protect employees.

Elkem further states that the measures do not affect safety or deliveries to customers, and that the market situation will be assessed on an ongoing basis.

The Russian researcher Alexey Dudarev was arrested on January 14th in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is accused of treason and could face life in prison.

Dudarev works as a senior researcher at the Northwestern Scientific Center for Hygiene and Public Health in St. Petersburg. He has published extensive research in both Russian and international journals for several years.

According to First Department, a group of independent Russian human rights lawyers in exile, the indictment is based on Dudarev’s open publications in international journals under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), of which he was a co-author. The programme is part of the Arctic Council, in which Russia also participates.

Investigators claim that information from these articles could be useful for Norwegian intelligence. Dudarev denies the charges, and his family says he has never had access to state secrets.

The Danish Ministry of Defense and the Greenlandic government have decided to increase the admission to the Arctic basic training in Greenland from 30 to 50 students starting in the summer of 2026.

"The educational program will provide young people in Greenland with broad basic training which can strengthen the collective Greenlandic preparedness," said Major General Søren Andersen, Chief of the Joint Arctic Command, when the education programme was launched in 2023.

The increase in the number of students is to meet the great interest in the education programme among young Greenlanders, writes the Danish Armed Forces. In 2024, the new education program received 200 applications.