Volume 1, Issue 2, April 2025
APS Mission Statement
The American Polar Society has since 1934 united people and institutions from around the globe and pole to pole to appreciate, celebrate, and further knowledge and understanding of the Arctic and Antarctic land, sea, and ice.
From the President’s Desk
The American Polar Society is 90 years old! We have been able to age gracefully thanks to the voluntary efforts and financial support of so many passionate polar enthusiasts and professionals from different walks of life and regions. Thank you to all who have donated time, knowledge, and money over the years! However, the APS is struggling right now. We have lost many supportive members in the last decades and more recently, COVID set us back. As a result, we have not been able to keep on top of our finances and membership but are changing all of that as we bolster our membership drives, enhance our educational outreach, and embrace new initiatives.
We hope that you will help us spread the word to interest new members. We are looking for individuals, libraries, educational institutes, companies, and corporations to become actively engaged in the American Polar Society. As our Mission Statement says, we are working to further knowledge, understanding, appreciation, and celebration of the Arctic and Antarctica. You can help us spread the word by sharing this newsletter with your friends and colleagues. Please consider hitting the forward button on your email and share, share, share Voices from the Ice.
Another way you can help us reach our centennial celebration is to donate financially. Historically, when members pay their annual membership dues, they include a donation to enhance the impact of their gift. Over many years this has helped fund conferences, the website, and The Polar Times. Unfortunately, the cost of printing and mailing The Polar Times has increased, even as the cost of improving and maintaining the website have also increased. The APS has struggled due to these changes. The dedication of our members in years past helped us build support for and understanding of the polar regions, and we thank everyone who has assisted the APS over the past decades and ask for your assistance to move forward.
There is no time like the present to dedicate more of your time and money to that goal. If you are able, please consider a donation to help secure our next decade so we can prepare to celebrate our centennial! Donations and membership can be managed on our website. Again, thank you to all of our current active members and we hope to count even more of you in that category in the coming months!
Susan Adie, President, APS
Government – Significant Reductions to Science Funding and Scientists
President Donald Trump through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) run by Elon Musk has made a number of executive orders and decisions that are impacting U.S. science and scientists. Some of these changes include withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement on climate change and World Health Organization and reducing domestic and international funding on climate change and health issues. Other changes include firing a large number of scientists and staff at various U.S. government agencies, including those particularly active in the two polar regions, such as the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Information about many of these actions can be found at the White House and Science. A number of scientists and non-scientists have voiced their opposition to the cuts (Nature). The staff and scientists conducting science in the two polar regions have been and will be impacted by these actions as much as any other area of the globe.
In the Antarctic, the United States has for decades been the leading scientific country for decades. Key U.S. research priorities today are:
- conducting cutting-edge research that increases our understanding of the interaction between Antarctica and the rest of the globe;
- increasing our knowledge of the Antarctic environment and ecosystems;
- using the unique Antarctic characteristics as a science observing platform; and
- building the U.S. polar-related science workforce.
The NSF conducts this research through the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP), which handles all the logistics and operational aspects of the U.S. presence in the region, including those that advance U.S. national security interests, such as maintaining the sole station at the geopolitically vital South Pole. See here for additional information about the importance of U.S. scientists and science in Antarctica.
In the Arctic, the United States promotes and supports leading-edge interdisciplinary research in order to foster a greater scientific understanding of the Arctic region and its role in the Earth system. Specific research activities are:
- enhancing the ability to observe, understand, predict, and project the Arctic’s dynamic interconnected systems and their links to the Earth system;
- improving community resilience and well-being by strengthening research and developing tools to increase understanding of interdependent social, natural, and built systems in the Arctic;
- securing and improving quality of life through research that promotes an understanding of disaster risk exposure, sensitivity to hazard, and adaptive capacity; and
- observing and understanding the Arctic’s natural, social, and built systems to promote sustainable economies and livelihoods.
See here and here for more information about the importance of U.S. scientists and science in the Arctic.
Government – Surprising Results in Greenland Parliamentary Elections
On March 11, 2025, Greenland held early parliamentary elections to renew its 31-seat legislature, the Inatsisartut. These elections come amid growing U.S. interest in Greenland, especially as the current U.S. administration expresses a desire to acquire the island. The key issue in this election was Greenland’s independence from Denmark. While most Greenlanders support the idea, opinions vary on the timing and economic impact, as Denmark currently provides nearly $1 billion annually to Greenland’s budget. The main parties in the election include:
- Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) – A left-wing party led by Prime Minister Múte Bourup Egede, supporting independence but advocating a cautious economic approach.
- Siumut – A social-democratic party led by Erik Jensen, favoring gradual separation from Denmark.
- Naleraq – A left-wing party led by Pele Broberg, pushing for rapid independence.
- Demokraatit – A center-liberal party led by Jens-Frederik Nielsen, supporting a market economy but warning against rushed decisions.
- Atassut – A center-right conservative party led by Aqqalu Jerimiassen, supporting continued ties with Denmark and opposing independence without a clear plan.
The results mark a significant shift for the country. The Demokraatit party won a surprising victory, tripling their number of seats to become the leading political force in Parliament. Alongside them, Naleraq, which advocates for rapid independence, doubled its seats and now established itself as a key player in Greenland politics. Meanwhile, the outgoing coalition parties, Inuit Ataqtigiit (IA) and Siiumut, suffered heavy losses. In small remote villages, Like Kullorsuaq, Naleraq secured a clear majority. The question there is more than a political issue, it is about identity, pride and the desire to reclaim control over Greenland’s future.
The author, Nicolas Dubreuil, is a new member of the APS. He was born near Paris and has spent most of his adult life living, working and exploring the polar regions. He lives in far north west Greenland for part of the year and has dedicated his life to educating people about the ways of the Greenlandic people.
Arts & Culture: ECHOES – a film featuring Anna Thastum, Kulusuk, Greenland
Greenland has recently been in the news quite a bit due to U.S. national security interests. However, only a few Americans are aware of or have had first-hand opportunities to experience the history of the military outposts established there, particularly the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line including the DYE stations in Greenland. (See The DEWLine and Cold War Arctic-DEW Line Defenses for more about this system of radar stations in the Canadian Arctic and Greenland.) Even less well-known is the story of Anna Kûitse Thastum (1942 – 2012) whose home was in Kulusuk, eastern Greenland, the location of DYE-4 and a refueling stop for military fights starting during World War II.
Hopefully that will change with the wonderful independent film documentary, ECHOES, produced by Ivalo Frank in 2010. The documentary tells Anna’s story from her own perspective. One of 12 children, she learned to speak English and often danced the night away as a young woman with these boys. She later married twice to two men working on the DYE-4 Station. Her real passion as an adult was for drum dancing, which made her famous internationally. She was awarded high honors in Greenland for her effort to keep the culture of drum dancing alive. Her primary passion was to teach children the art form. She also made a formal request to UNESCO for drum dancing to be considered a part of UNESCO’s list of cultural heritage practices, a recognition that was granted in 2021.
I (Susan), visited Kulusuk on several occasions and experienced some of the drum dancing of this community. I was unaware at the time that the oldest dancer in the group, who was introduced to us as the teacher to the young, was Anna. The film ECHOES is 23 minutes long and visually showcases the iceberg-filled fjord and the remains of the military presence. Anna’s voice telling her own story of joy and sadness is memorable. A look at the village in 2010 shares the faces of smiling children, whose spirits are Greenland’s future.
ARTS and CULTURE: I AM GREENLAND – An Original Poem by Josette Abruzzini
I am Greenland - Earth’s largest island -
a bed of rock supporting and cradling
an ancient icy carpet
Cherish my majesty.
I am Greenland, crowned in glimmering glaciers, frozen for eons;
my monumental mile-high sheets of ice
melting, calving into echoing fjords,
dripping into mighty oceans.
Take heed as I spill onto distant shores.
I am Greenland, a coastline longer than Equator’s length
edging endless fields of ice that vanish into mystical horizons;
my eerie fog, cutting sleet and blinding blizzards causing chaos.
Beware my angry moods.
I am Greenland –
my cold briny seas of polar bears, salmon, seals,
my frozen lands of snow hare, musk ox, reindeer,
my fragile flowers and long-suffering birch
bending, wrestling, persisting amid hostile elements.
Notice my resilience.
I am Greenland, North America,
my Pre-Cambrian ridge, submerged,
tethered to a western continent
less than a marathon away –
Ellesmere, Canada.
We are ancient kinfolk.
I am Greenland – Inuit and Dane claiming long legacies, building new ones,
living peacefully, century in, century out
for our common good,
fending and defending our dignity
to all the world.
Honor our flags.
I am Greenland –
a base for brave explorers,
a peacemaker in troubled times,
a steppingstone bracing continents in a changing world.
Consider me a friend of the free.
I am Greenland.
Marvel as I unveil my splendors to geographers,
to steadfast scientists and eager sight-see-ers,
as they come and chronicle and come again,
exploring me, sharing me, loving me.
Protect what you love.
I am Greenland, a blushing bride in a vanishing gown,
rare Earth hiding in my core,
salty seas unspoiled.
I am possessed by all my people,
yet not by one man, woman or child.
Be kind to me.
I am Greenland –
an unknown seed lying dormant ‘neath the ice,
waiting for a warmer day to come to life.
Will I grow in an undreamt paradise?
Or upon a pock-marked rock?
Or will I wither, never seen?
Let my seed grow.
I am Greenland, with whispers of a new world order
of secret armed vessels and silent white armies,
of future frontiers across a melting sea.
With time… fame and fortune will turn hollow.
Respect me as you claim your prize.
I am Greenland –
My waters are your waters, my planet is your planet,
my future is your future.
I am every legacy and every human fingerprint.
I am Greenland. You are Greenland.
WE are Greenland.
Josette Abruzzini is a Canadian-American writer, a former educator, and a new member of APS. She comes from a long line of Newfoundland merchant mariners that includes a grandfather who served in the Battle of the Atlantic during World War II. Josette is currently writing the middle grade biography of an Arctic pioneer.
ARTS and CULTURE: Amundsen and the limitations of the Biopic
The Norwegian Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) was the first person to sail the Northwest Passage and to reach the South Pole. He attempted a drift expedition across the Northeast Passage and spent practically a decade thereafter trying to harness pioneer polar aviation to the task of completing the exploration of the Arctic. He finally accomplished the first transpolar flight flying from Spitsbergen to Alaska by way of the North Pole in 1926. Two years later, he perished while searching for Umberto Nobile, a polar aviator whom he profoundly disliked, who was lost on Arctic ice.
The principal expeditions were all covered in the 2019 Norwegian production, Amundsen, in a more-or-less highlight-reel manner (trailer). Well, that is what happens when you try to compress an eventful life to a two-hour feature film. In the process, much dramatic detail is inevitably omitted.
To provide one example, take the segment recreating Amundsen’s survival epic in 1925, when his airplanes went down on the ice well short of the North Pole. Providing leadership, assigning chores, he turns to one of the members of the stranded flight crew, calling him by name: “Ellsworth….” Unless you were up on your polar history, you wouldn’t know that “Ellsworth” was Lincoln Ellsworth, an American millionaire and sportsman, and that Amundsen would not have gotten anywhere north of Oslo in the mid-1920s without his financial backing. The turning point of Amundsen’s life as an explorer occurred in 1924. He had embarked on a lecture tour of the United States to attempt to pay off the debts of his previous expeditions, including his famous race to the South Pole. In his room at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, he calculated that he would break even at the age of 110. The phone rang and Ellsworth was on the line. He introduced himself, explained that he was interested in polar exploration and suggested that he had access to some money. Amundsen told him to come over at once and the rest was history.
The filmmakers sought to compensate for their sins of omission by including a narrative device that might have been influenced by D.W. Griffith’s 1916 historical epic Intolerance. The narrative device employed in Amundsen to knit together the successive expeditions was two people endlessly debating in point-counterpoint style: they were, Amundsen’s last girlfriend, Bess Magids, an American he encountered in Alaska, who defended Roald’s career choices, and his estranged brother, Leon, who offered a more critical assessment. The explorer emerges as a legitimately controversial hero. The actors, Pal Sverre Hagen, Katherine Waterston, and Christian Rubeck as, respectively, Amundsen, Bess, and brother Leon were fine, and the visuals uniformly stunning. But the subject would have been better served by a mini-series.
You Might Also Like ….
Japan’s Marine United Corporation recently launched the Mirai Il, which will be the country’s first dedicated Arctic research icebreaker when delivered in November 2026. Although Japan has a large polar icebreaker, the Shirase, it is operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force annually supporting Japan’s Antarctic program. Shirase has never operated in the Arctic Ocean but serves as a key logistics and scientific support icebreaker in the Southern Ocean. During the past two decades Japanese political and research leaders have observed the operation of new and advanced polar research ships operated by China, South Korea, Norway, United Kingdom, and other nations. Mirai II will be a large and powerful icebreaker, designated a Polar Class 4 ship (capable of breaking 4 feet of level ice at a continuous speed of 3 knots) and one of most technically advanced polar research ships. Mirai II will be operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. With this world-class polar icebreaker, Japan enhances its long established position among the world’s leading polar research nations. Japan Launches Its First Dedicated Ice-Class Arctic Research Vessel
Scientists unexpectedly discover an amazing and beautiful world under an ice shelf: When a colossal iceberg broke free from Antarctica, scientists found something staggering beneath it
The U.S. Department of State’s lead historian reports on interest by previous U.S. Administrations in Greenland: The deep history behind America’s Greenland gambit
Scientists are studying how the Arctic Ocean affects the Northern Pacific Ocean: Arctic warming as a potential trigger for the warm blob in the northeast Pacific
A biography of Robert Peary, whose birthday was May 6, 1856: Isthmian Canal surveyor, Arctic explorer, and early air advocate
Watch some of the first-ever documented techniques Antarctic killer whale “wave washers” used to hunt leopard seals. Follow scientists Leigh Hickmott (UK) and Jessica Ferrar (USA) as they gather acoustic, feces samples, and film better to understand the health of this population of Orca.
Information for the Mary 20-21, 2025 Workshop organized by the National Academies of Science Polar Research Board on the 2032-2033 International Polar Year: Exploring Key Research and Monitoring Topics for U.S. Engagement in the Fifth International Polar Year
Information for two funding opportunities for Antarctic research, both due on June 2, 2025: Antarctic Research Requiring U.S. Antarctic Program Support for Fieldwork and Antarctic Research Not Requiring U.S. Antarctic Program Field Support
Put Your Hand Up
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED – Please consider volunteering if you have time, experience and interest!
- Attorney (We do not anticipate having any high-profile U.S. Supreme Court cases or situations that would land anyone in jail and would be grateful for your pro bono work to keep it that way.)
- Social Media organizer (Not a strength for any of us, at least based on the “frank” feedback given to us by some of our kids and grandkids.)
- Webmaster (Our current webmaster would be grateful for even periodic assistance or even just a shoulder to cry on as he gets up to speed.)
- Anyone and Everyone (We welcome stories of your own polar experience for Voices from the Ice.)
For any individual interested in offering services please contact us at info@americanpolar.org. Thank you!
In addition to those authors already cited, the American Polar Society thanks the following contributors to this issue:
Susan Adie, APS President
George Blaisedell, APS Membership Chair
Sheldon Bart, APS Vice President
William Muntean, APS Secretary
