Nuuk Has Right to Send Envoy to Washington, Copenhagen Says. Greenland's government is not acting out of bounds by opening a representative office in Washington, Martin Lidegaard, the Danish foreign minister, has reassured that country's parliament. Lidegaard had been asked to address the issue by parliament's Greenland Committee last week after several members questioned whether the new office violated the terms of its Self-Rule Agreement between Copenhagen and Nuuk. Arctic Journal

'US Wants to Catch Up With Russia in the Arctic.' The US wants to play a leading role in exploring the Arctic but doesn't have enough facilities or resources, and basically lags behind Russia, Edward Struzik, leading researcher of the Arctic region, told RT. "[The Russians] have ice breaker capability, they have naval bases, they are expanding their naval bases. I would say the Russians' road map to the Arctic is well under way and the US right now is simply acknowledging that they have got to catch up," Struzik said. RT

Canada Inks Free-Trade Deal With South Korea. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday his government signed a free-trade agreement with South Korea, Canada's first with an Asian market. Harper has tried to add a layer of diversity to an export economy that relies almost exclusively on the United States as its destination for oil and natural gas. UPI

Fish, Fisheries and Fisheries Management in the Arctic Ocean. Globally significant fisheries take place in the seas surrounding the Arctic Ocean. The pollock fisheries in the Bering Sea and the cod fisheries in the Barents Sea are among the largest in the world. Large fish stocks require large feeding areas. Global warming has brought warmer waters and reduced ice cover in the Arctic, facilitating the northwards extension of fish stocks such as capelin and cod. This has brought speculations that commercial fisheries might develop in the Central Arctic Ocean. Barents Observer

Ribbon Seals: Stunning on the Outside, Bizarre on the Inside. Look at this guy. So casual. People pay money to look this casual. Just out on the ice in his black and white pajamas. Waiting for his mulled wine and hard cheeses. Look at him. Meet the ribbon seal (Histriophoca fasciata), the most striking and handsome of all the world's pinnipeds. Found in the icy waters off the southern coast of Russia and to the north of Korea and Japan, this Arctic native thrives in icy waters. Scientific American

Ocean Acidification of the Depths is Hard to Mitigate. As carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere increase, so too does absorption of the gas into the oceans, making them more acidic. But what if we manage to decrease atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations to pre-industrial levels? Would ocean acidification be mitigated or reversed? The team found that changes in surface ocean acidity largely follow the change in atmospheric carbon dioxide and that, in most parts of the surface ocean, mitigation of atmospheric carbon dioxide will result in mitigation of ocean acidification. There were some exceptions, in particular the Arctic Ocean, where the mitigation of surface acidification will substantially lag behind the mitigation of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Environmental Research Web