Greenland

REYKJAVIK, Iceland -- Voters in Iceland went to the polls Saturday to decide whether the country should resume long-stalled negotiations to become a member of the European Union, in the shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump's threats to control nearby Greenland. The yes-or-no referendum question is simple enough for the…

Collecting ocean measurements in East Greenland often depends on whether a ship can get through the ice. Many fjords extend far inland, leaving research crews with little information about the water surrounding their glaciers. Near Scoresby Sound, local hunters helped a research team briefly capture six narwhals and fit them…

Missed some of our top stories from the week? Check out our round-up below, covering the biggest science news and stories that matter. This week's stories, from Aug. 22 to Aug. 28, 2026, include a look at the Chinchorro mummies, how thunderquakes could help with seismic imaging, a rare brain-eating…

BRUSSELS ― Rattled by President Donald Trump’s territorial claims in the Arctic, the people of Iceland will vote Saturday on whether to restart talks on joining the European Union. Iceland quit its E.U. bid more than a decade ago, after years of negotiations collapsed over fishing restrictions. Several factors, including…

As summer progresses, one of the Arctic’s most significant ice-loss events has taken place in northwest Greenland. On Aug. 4, 2026, an approximately 30-square-mile chunk of ice, comparable in size to Manhattan, broke away from the Petermann Glacier. The event might have gone almost unnoticed if not for Europe’s Copernicus…

Jamie Carter watched the solar eclipse from a ship in eastern Greenland, where the sun was blocked by the moon for 2 minutes, 16 seconds. (Image credit: Jamie Carter) SCORESBY SOUND, Greenland ‪—‬ There's no feeling more exhilarating than waking up inside the imminent path of a total solar eclipse…

An international team of researchers, led in part by the University of Ottawa, has documented a major calving event at Petermann Glacier in northwest Greenland. On August 4, 2026, the glacier released a 76.4 km2 ice island, its largest loss of floating ice since 2012 and the biggest Arctic calving…

While the act of selling seal skins is prohibited in Europe and the USA, an American company is trying to change that in order to appease locals in Greenland and gain permission to drill in on their shores. After being told "No" once again by Greenland in relation to drilling…

Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk watches a Greenland shark glide slowly through the dark waters of the Arctic on her computer screen. "You see it move its eye," says the University of California, Irvine associate professor of physiology and biophysics, pointing to the footage. "The shark is tracking the light -- it's fascinating."…

Missed some of our top stories from the week? Check out our round-up below, covering the biggest science news and stories that matter. This week's stories, from Aug. 15 to Aug. 21, 2026, include a COVID-19 study that was retracted due to misinformation, an update on when you can stop…