region:northern norway

DNA from Viking cod bones suggests 1,000 years of European fish trade | University of Cambridge
▻https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/dna-from-viking-cod-bones-suggests-1000-years-of-european-fish-trade

https://www.cam.ac.uk/sites/www.cam.ac.uk/files/inner-images/map_4.jpg

Norway is famed for its cod. Catches from the Arctic stock that spawn each year off its northern coast are exported across Europe for staple dishes from British fish and chips to Spanish bacalao stew.

Now, a new study published today in the journal PNAS suggests that some form of this pan-European trade in Norwegian cod may have been taking place for 1,000 years.

Latest research from the universities of Cambridge and Oslo, and the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology in Schleswig, used ancient DNA extracted from the remnants of Viking-age fish suppers.

The study analysed five cod bones dating from between 800 and 1066 AD found in the mud of the former wharves of #Haithabu, an early medieval trading port on the Baltic. Haithabu is now a heritage site in modern Germany, but at the time was ruled by the King of the Danes. 

The DNA from these cod bones contained genetic signatures seen in the Arctic stock that swim off the coast of Lofoten: the northern archipelago still a centre for Norway’s fishing industry. 

Researchers say the findings show that supplies of ‘stockfish’ – an ancient dried cod dish popular to this day – were transported over a thousand miles from northern Norway to the Baltic Sea during the Viking era.

Prior to the latest study, there was no archaeological or historical proof of a European stockfish trade before the 12th century.

#Hedeby Commerce de la #morue #Vikings

’Acutely toxic’ mine waste threatens the death of Norway’s fjords - The Ecologist
▻http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2652197/acutely_toxic_mine_waste_threatens_the_death_of_norways_fjords.html

Two huge open pit mines in northern Norway are on the verge of approval, writes Tina Andersen Vågenes - even though they would dump hundreds of millions of tonnes of tailings in fjords where wild salmon spawn. Scientists are voicing serious concerns, and protests are growing, but government and mining companies appear determined to push the projects forward regardless.

#extraction_minière #titane #cuivre #pollution @reka

Russian bombers pose risk to civil aviation | Barentsobserver

▻http://barentsobserver.com/en/security/2014/10/russian-bombers-pose-risk-civil-aviation-30-10

The four bombers and four tanker aircraft tracked by F-16s outside Northern Norway were not using on-board transponders or maintained any radio contact with civilian air traffic authorities.

Thomas Nilsen
October 30, 2014

▻http://barentsobserver.com/sites/barentsobserver.com/files/styles/grid_8/public/main/articles/tu-95_and_il-78.jpg?itok=z6rYzMmA

Two Norwegian F-16 fighter jets were scrambled from Bodø airforce base early Wednesday morning as NATO radars detected eight Russian aircrafts flying from Russia’s Kola Peninsula and into international airspace on a southwest bound route from the Barents Sea over the Norwegian Sea.

The aircrafts identified were four Tu-95 strategic bombers and four Il-78 tanker aircrafts.

NATO issued a statement Wednesday saying the “flights represent an unusual level of air activity over European airspace.”

#russie #Norvège #arctique

Norway’s Arctic Oil Ambitions Threatened by Slump in Oil - Businessweek

▻http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-10-23/norway-s-arctic-oil-ambitions-threatened-by-slump-in-oil

Norway’s push to exploit Arctic waters for oil, already denounced by environmentalists, is now under threat from the slump in crude prices.

http://www.bloomberg.com/image/i3TB76VtzY9w.jpg

The Arctic Barents Sea off northern Norway is reckoned to contain 40 percent of the country’s undiscovered resources and seen as key to extending oil output as aging North Sea fields decline. But operating there is expensive, and even before the recent plunge in prices, state-controlled Statoil ASA (STL)’s key project in the area had been delayed twice.

“The premises for what we’re discussing could be gone because of a weakening market,” Terje Aasland, a lawmaker from the opposition Labor Party, said during a debate on Arctic oil in Oslo yesterday. “What we believed a few months ago, we don’t believe today.”

#norvège #énergie #pétrole #barents

Preparing for a Very Cold War
▻http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/03/31/preparing_for_a_very_cold_war

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/140331_coldresponse1.jpg

In March, over 16,000 soldiers from 16 countries traveled to the Arctic Circle to participate in Exercise Cold Response. Led by the Norwegian Armed Forces, this series of "high-intensity" combat operations emphasizes “extreme cold-weather” training in Norway’s wintry weather, with temperatures dropping as low -13 degrees Fahrenheit. Among the participating countries were the United States, France, Britain, Germany, and France, among others. These joint-training exercises have been conducted since 2006, training that includes tanks, airplanes, helicopters, ships and submarines, live-fire exercises, night patrols, and intensely realistic medical evacuation drills.

The reindeer whisperers: Meet Norway’s Sami tribe — the world’s last remaining nomads

▻http://www.theprovince.com/news/reindeer+whisperers+Meet+Norway+Sami+tribe/9243177/story.html

▻http://www.theprovince.com/news/cms/binary/9243238.jpg

There are three times as many reindeer as people in Kautokeino, northern Norway. At this time of year, the village is experiencing its polar night, when a blue twilight illuminates the sky for only a few hours in the middle of the day. As the temperature drops, the lowlands become inhospitable and the reindeer herders begin their yearly move to the coniferous forests, where they and their reindeer will wait out the harshest period of the winter until the sun returns and they begin their move to the calving grounds in the mountains, where streams flow rapidly from the ancient glaciers.

#norvège #samis #fennoscandia