The economy is frigid at Earth’s fringes, where ice breakers and snowmobiles are a must to get moving. But as climate change heats the Arctic and Antarctica faster than the rest of the planet, the majestically icy regions are awakening from their commercial slumber.

That is particularly true of the area around the North Pole. Even as higher temperatures threaten Arctic ecology, less ice in the summer has led to a longer window for ships to traverse the Arctic Ocean each year:

• The number of vessels operating in the region rose by nearly 40% in the decade leading up to 2023, according to the Arctic Council, largely due to increased natural gas and oil drilling activity. Several efforts are underway to explore the Arctic for minerals that are critical to the clean energy industry.
• Container shipping is also ratcheting up. Late last year, the NewNew Shipping Line launched the first regular cargo route to pass through the Arctic Ocean. Running from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Shanghai, China, the polar shortcut shaves two weeks off the traditional travel time.

Leisure travel to the Arctic Circle has also been growing at a non-glacial pace as European tourists in search of wintry vacations and more powdery skiing are heading north. Finnair increased flights to the northern region of Lapland, aka the home of Santa, by 20% this year, while Canada’s northernmost region, Nunavut, aspires to grow its tourism industry to $1 billion annually by 2030.

Meanwhile, a world away…

Antarctica adventurism has soared in the last 30 years from 8,000 tourists in the 1993–1994 winter season to 105,000 in 2022–2023 and an anticipated 117,000 for 2023–2024. Travelers typically don’t march onto the penguin continent, but rather remain on cruise ships with climate scientists lecturing on board—an industry that generates an estimated $820 million annually.

Otherwise, Antarctica’s vast icy expanse remains largely untouched by commercial activity. Though its ice sheets are believed to conceal a treasure trove of minerals and fossil fuels, commercial mining is banned by the Antarctic Treaty until at least 2048. Three-fourths of the 26 signatory countries would have to consent to undo the ban, an unlikely move due to logistical challenges and the region’s conservational value.

Nature is doing the economic legwork…since much of Antarctica’s $180 billion annual contribution to the global economy comes not from human activity but from its ice sheets, which prevent catastrophic climate events by absorbing carbon dioxide and regulating ocean flows, according to a recent analysis by University of Tasmania researchers.—SK

Greenland is more than just the name of a movie you’ve never seen starring Gerard Butler—it’s also a country looking to embrace its emerging identity as a tourist destination while being mindful of the local environment.

As overtourism plagues many cities in Europe, travelers are turning to the Arctic island that’s three times the size of Texas but has just 56,000 residents. And Greenland is welcoming excursionists with enthusiasm—it dedicated more than $700 million to its airport infrastructure:

• A new airport in Nuuk opened this week; two more in the remote cities of Ilulissat and Qaqortoq will open by 2026.
• Between April and August this year, 55,000 seats’ worth of flights flew to Greenland, a number expected to increase to 105,000 during the same period next year.

Protecting the environment

A study shows that tourism is responsible for ~8% of global greenhouse gas emissions—most are attributed to planes and ships carrying tourists from wealthy countries like the US. It’s a particular concern for Ilulissat and Qaqortoq, which are popular remote locales for exploring fjords, but Greenland’s government has a plan.

• A proposed law would use a zoning system limiting access to certain areas: Green zones would be accessible to all tourists, yellow zones would have restrictions, and red zones would ban all tour operators.

There’s pushback: The Association of Arctic Expedition Cruise Operators said the laws would restrict tours in uninhabited regions, which is the core of expedition touring.—DL

As humans send probes beyond the solar system and contemplate life on Mars, a large land mass on Earth remains largely untouched by their feet. There are parts of Antarctica, in fact, that are harder to reach than outer space. It is the coldest, windiest, most remote region of our planet, utterly inhospitable to humans—an alien world here on Earth.

But we’re still trying to traverse the southernmost continent, even if it’s not getting as much attention as Roald Amundsen and Ernest Shackleton gave it a century ago:

• In 2014, two British explorers made the first completion of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition.
• In 2016, Henry Worsley died attempting the first solo, unsupported traversal of the continent.
• In 2017, a group led by Australian adventurer Eric Philips blazed a new route to the South Pole through the Transantarctic Mountains.

New discoveries: Scientists still aren’t sure what exists beneath the network of glaciers and ice shelves, but they’re getting closer. In the last several years, NASA—which studies Antarctica with satellites and radar-equipped planes as if it were another planet—discovered an underground cavern almost the size of Manhattan and a 300-mile-wide asteroid crater.

What’s next: Among the many projects in the works is a new research vessel from the US National Science Foundation that will be able to break through the ice to reach hard-to-study sites. (It’s hoping to set sail by 2031.) A major concern of all future expeditions is how to protect the pristine wasteland from exploitation and conflict as it becomes easier to navigate.—AE

Despite making Boston feel like a tropical getaway, the Arctic archipelago Svalbard draws scores of fearless travelers and transplants seeking bone-chilling serenity.

Situated 400 miles from the North Pole in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian jurisdiction derives its magnetic pull from photogenic glaciers, fjords, and northern lights, as well as the availability of dog sledding, tundra hiking, and cured seal blubber.

Roughly 2,900 people cohabit with hundreds of polar bears on the main island, a community that includes Russian coal miners as well as researchers and intrepid digital nomads hailing from at least 52 countries. Svalbard’s urban center, Longyearbyen—the world’s northernmost settlement with a permanent population of over 1,000—boasts the highest-latitude jazz festival and Pride parade.

Anyone is welcome (with a catch)

Svalbard’s permissive immigration rules and low taxes make it exceptionally expat-friendly. Citizens of dozens of countries, including the US, China, India, and much of the EU, can live and work there visa-free indefinitely—as long as they have housing and means to support themselves.

But that entails bearing existentially chilly wintertime ruggedness—76 days of sunless skies (aka polar night) plus an average low of 4° Fahrenheit in the coldest month—and abiding by some quirky laws, like the requirement to carry a rifle when venturing outside of towns to protect against polar bears.

Burrowed in the permafrost…is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an underground storage facility containing 1.3 million backup samples of edible plants from almost every country in case of cataclysms (or the end of the world), plus the Arctic World Archive data repository preserving digital media on film reels.—SK

When you and 25 of your homies are holed up together for months on end, you may develop your own accent—and that’s not just the case at the TikTok Hype House. Recent studies show that researchers who live in Antarctica are acquiring a new accent and vernacular, providing insight into how other languages have changed over time.

A study by phonetic experts at the University of Munich analyzed voice recordings of researchers based at a station on an island in Antarctica in 2018. They found:

• Over time, inhabitants who started out with different accents began to pronounce certain vowel sounds in the same way.
• The study also found an extensive Antarctic vocabulary, including “fod plod,” meaning to pick up trash, “gonk,” meaning sleep, and “doo,” meaning a snow bike.

What’s more…there’s variation among the vernacular at different research stations in the region. Steph Kaefer, a linguist from the University of Canterbury, spent time at three different stations to gather extensive data about the Antarctic vocabulary:

• She found that colloquial language varied among the the stations operated by the US, UK, and New Zealand. Americans use the term “fingies” to describe people new to Antarctica, while the British use “fidlets,” for example.

But…it's unlikely to develop any further. Both studies found that, even though isolated environments typically accelerate language changes, that isn’t the case in Antarctica. Substantial accent changes require younger generations to mimic their parents and continue developing the language, and the frozen tundra isn’t exactly prime for raising kids.—CC