is revealing the nuclear submarines

If that icy land called Greenland was historically already a strategic enclave, with the help of Donald Trump’s second term it has returned to the fore more strongly than ever: The United States wants to annex that territory belongs to Denmark and has a few reasons: from the enormous amount of rare earths that it hides to the magnificent surveillance point that it constitutes there, in the North Atlantic, between the United States, northern Europe or Russia. In fact, already has plans to install a new radar.

The time has come not only because Trump has returned to the presidency, it is because global warming and the subsequent thaw has generated a sort of new polar “Silk Road” through which China wants to passthe US wants to control and Russia does not want it to control, from what it would mean from a strategic and competitive point of view. But that thaw has also left something else visible: nuclear submarines.

The Arctic is melting. January 2026 was warmest January ever recorded in the western part of Greenland. In Nuuk, the capital of the island of Denmark, the average temperature was 7.8 °C above usual. In other locations bathed by the Arctic such as Baffin Bay, the Barents Sea or Svalbard, thermometers frequently exceeded +15°C above average in those areas.

The thaw is breaking records but unfortunately, it is not an isolated phenomenon, but rather continues the accelerated trend that The scientific community has been documenting for years. And geopolitically, the mercury is also red-hot.

Why is it important. In short, because of the geopolitics of the thaw. Directly, it has consequences in the form of:

• Maritime routes. The opening of the Arctic on both the Canadian and Russian sides brings a notable reduction in distances between Asia, Europe and North America, which affects trade on a planetary scale.
• Natural resources. With the thaw, it is easier to access oil, gas, rare earths and other critical minerals for the technology industry and industry in general.
• Military security. This thick layer of ice has functioned for decades as a shield to make nuclear submarines invisible. When the ice is thinner, detecting them becomes an easier mission.

Down the periscope. John Methven, professor of atmospheric dynamics at the University of Reading, explains for the Financial Times that as Arctic sea ice “shrinks and retreats, it becomes more difficult to conceal warships. This is changing the strategic landscape in the Arctic.”

Without going any further, the New York Times echoes of at least 33 Russian military maneuvers in the Arctic, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Russian nuclear submarine base on the Kola Peninsula and its growing exposure she is becoming more and more shamelessso much so that it already equals and even exceeds the levels of the Cold War, reports the United States Naval Institute. However, the United States fleet is also making itself seen on a dock in Reykjavik in July of last year. But Russia is also doing its homework: according to the Washington Posthas secretly built a network of underwater sensors to monitor what is happening.

Temperatures rise, tensions rise. Climate change is not “only” an environmental problem, but its consequences multiply geopolitical tensions: where the ice melts, competition between powers appears.

In Xataka | The US is preparing a new radar for Greenland with one objective: to monitor every movement of Russia and China in the Arctic

In Xataka | Now that Europe has sent its troops to Greenland, a question emerges that no one wants to ask: what happens if the US invades it?

Cover | Mil.ru, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia