In the cold and flat expanses of the Arctic, geopolitics, resources and climate issues are sewn deeply into the region’s permafrost.

The Arctic is an area of land and water in the northernmost regions of Earth that include territories of North America, Europe and Russia. It is characterized by floating extensions of glaciers called ice shelves that change with the seasons, depending on temperature.

In recent decades, however, these changes have become less connected to the summer seasons and more tied to climate change. Carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere are the leading cause of human-influenced global temperature rise and glacial melting.

According to Colorado State University’s department of geosciences’ associate professor and glaciologist, Dan McGrath, the Arctic has been hit with unprecedented shifts in previous decades.

By some of his measures, these losses contribute to around 273 gigatons of ice each year being siphoned into the ocean between 2000 and 2023.

“That’s the equivalent of 273 million Olympic-sized swimming pools per year,” McGrath said.

The excess water stored within Arctic regions is flooding outward, causing the snow coverage, ice sheets and glaciers to diminish and the sea levels to rise.

Changes to the Arctic extend beyond tangible environmental impacts, as it complicates the way countries from all over the planet are interacting with the region.

Gabriella Gricius, who is a researcher striving to understand the nuances and relationships of Arctic issues and an instructor for the department of political science at CSU, described this situation.

“Landmass isn’t necessarily changing, but the navigability is,” Gricius said. “Ships, how people, how vehicles move across the Arctic, is changing all the time across the year.”

One country changing its behavior due to Arctic melting is Russia, specifically along the Northern Sea Route.

“When we talk about climate change, when we talk about geopolitical competition, … the Arctic isn’t just by itself. We can’t just take it out of the world and remove it from everything that is happening.” -Gabriella Gricius, CSU instructor and University of Konstanz postdoctoral fellow

This new transportation route gives way to faster and easier channels for the country to extract and transport resources, taking up to 60% less time to transport goods compared to traveling around the African Cape Horn.

Accessing oil, gas and other such materials is important to Russia’s involvement in the Arctic. Military operations by the country in those regions may not be an attempt to create conflict, but a preemptive measure to avoid it.

Something less discussed in the Arctic resources conversation, however, are those of critical minerals. Critical minerals include metals such as cobalt, lithium, rare Earth elements and graphite.

These minerals are critical for manufacturing devices like semiconductors and batteries, which are essential in the construction of electric vehicles and technologies behind the growing sustainable energy industry in the United States.

Gricius said the need for these minerals is also important in maintaining the relationship between governments.

“Right now, a lot of (critical minerals) come from China, which makes the U.S. and much of the West dependent on Chinese imports,” Gricius said.

These minerals can also be found in the Arctic.

“Even in 2009, I remember going (to Greenland) in the summer, and we had a really hard time booking a helicopter because the mining companies had come in,” McGrath said. “So even at that time, logistically, it was very challenging for us to do some of our science.”

That being said, many who have watched the movements of governments in the Arctic are more worried about potential military conflict. There have even been claims that a new Cold War is being put into motion, but Gricius said she disagrees.

“It’s not just the U.S. and the Soviet Union,” Gricius said. “There are many other actors in the region. … But even more importantly, how we think about Arctic and Arctic security isn’t just great power competition anymore.”

Gricius said governments are not just focusing on the military value of Arctic security, but are also taking into account its massive environmental changes. Canada, for example, has a program wherein rangers help local communities with various issues, such as security problems and low food supplies.

Humans have become major factors in the Arctic’s role on Earth, and it may take understanding the tangled relationship between it all to move forward, Gricius said.

“When we talk about climate change, when we talk about geopolitical competition, … the Arctic isn’t just by itself,” Gricus said. “We can’t just take it out of the world and remove it from everything that is happening.”

Reach Maiya Kreamer at science@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.