Essay by Eric Worrall
I can’t recall the USA ever stopping foreign scientists from visiting, but apparently that will be a thing in the future.
Why Greenland is indispensable to global climate science
Published: January 10, 2026 4.39am AEDT
Martin Siegert
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Cornwall), University of ExeterA 30-minute stroll across New York’s Central Park separates Trump Tower from the American Museum of Natural History. If the US president ever found himself inside the museum he could see the Cape York meteorite: a 58-tonne mass of iron taken from northwest Greenland and sold in 1897 by the explorer Robert Peary, with the help of local Inuit guides.
For centuries before Danish colonisation, the people of Greenland had used fragments of the meteorite to make tools and hunting equipment. Peary removed that resource from local control, ultimately selling the meteorite for an amount equivalent to just US$1.5 million today. It was a transaction as one-sided as anything the president may now be contemplating.
But Donald Trump is now eyeing a prize much larger than a meteorite. His advocacy of the US taking control of Greenland, possibly by force, signals a shift from dealmaking to dominance. The scientific cost would be severe. A unilateral US takeover threatens to disrupt the open scientific collaboration that is helping us understand the threat of global sea-level rise.
…
Unlike Antarctica or Svalbard, Greenland has no treaty that explicitly protects access for international scientists. Its openness to research therefore depends not on international law, but on Greenland’s continued political stability and openness – all of which may be threatened by US control.
Read more: https://theconversation.com/why-greenland-is-indispensable-to-global-climate-science-273064
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This has got to be one of the more absurd arguments against a US takeover of Greenland. The USA as far as I know has never stopped climate scientists from visiting US territory, the Trump administration just doesn’t want to pay for climate voodoo.
Of course; God and Donald Trump know that climate scientists are not allowed to work in the USA or any other country in the world.
At least they won’t be dying in a crevasse like Koni Steffen.
Climate scientists can certainly work in the USA. They just won’t be able to lie as easy!
And they won’t get huge tax-payer salaries for creating fake science.
Perhaps, maybe, they can find some honest employment.
Maybe try Minnesota work t the child care centres ?
Huh? Donk31 comment makes no sense.
I think it was meant to be sarcasm.
Someone we used to listen to on the radio called it “Showing absurdity by being absurd.” I didn’t think it was necessary to tag it as sarcasm.
Sadly in this modern world, absurdity is the normal for Climate Alarmists and their support teams. That may be why normal people are sometimes wrong footed with absurdity.
It gets harder every day. Babylon Bee is regularly publishing stuff that should be published by Not the Bee instead.
The proverbial existential question: To bee or not to bee.
A statement of pure victimhood.
Maybe he assumes that the US declares war on the Islamic Caliphate of Britain in the near future?
What % of the population of Londonstan are Moslems?
What % Africans?
What % South Asians
What % East Asians?
Just curious.
That I don’t know, but a determined 3% can change a society, especially when the other 97% are hesitant to resist.
For London:
15% Muslim in the last census (2021), ~41% Christian, ~27% no religion
13.5% identified as Black
~21% identified as Asian
The 2010 UK census revealed that 50% of the residents af Londonistan were born abroad.
“The scientific cost would be severe.”
These people have no idea how Trump thinks things out. You just offered DJT a free negotiating point! Now he can use it for leverage in the deal-making at no cost. “You want access for scientific missions? OK, I can work with that, if you give up territorial control.”
Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this real-estate acquisition.
These people have no idea how Trump thinks things out
That’s where “TACO” came from, when those of us who know how he works aren’t surprised at all. What’s funny is that they could easily learn if they just tried reading one of his books.
Adding Greenland to the US makes US the second largest country on Earth…probably something DT has on his geography book agenda, sorta like the “Gulf of America” thing….
Sea level change can be measured by technicians using simple instruments. Scenario. Select a set of 1,000 instruments globally. Report their results annually. Have a conference every 10 years to review results and possibly to recommend actions, although I do not know how puny Man could possibly affect ocean levels.
Does this really demand large teams of international scientists? Answer, resounding NO.
Scientists doing proper work can advance the comfort and enjoyment of society. So spend more time understanding what proper jobs are like.
They are not activism cloaked with minor PhDs.
Geoff S
Plus, it’s Sea Level. Last I checked the Oceans were a Global Phenomenon…5 of them. The waters around Greenland aren’t necessarily a great place to measure Sea Level Rise with constant sea ice and glacial calving. Though it’s the only place to measure the depth of the Greenland Ice Sheet.
Actually, it isn’t as simple as measuring the water in an aquarium. Tides change relentlessly, winds can remove and pile up water, high and low pressure cells move across the water, thermosteric heating changes the volume of water, mascons affect how water piles up and interacts with the other influences, sediment is slowly and episodically filling the oceans displacing water, and the ocean basins are slowly changing size and shape with isostatic adjustments in the bedrock and compaction of unconsolidated sediments result in subsidence. More than enough variables to wiggle an elephant’s trunk.
PSMAL.org collates government readings, most probably at populated harbours.
Have to recognize tectonic plate rise or subsidence, in the area of Vancouver BC and the Olympic Peninsula of WA state it appears some of the small plates there are tilting.
I have mixed feelings about the US Greenland issue but I don’t have mixed feelings about Russia and China. Every effort should be made to keep either of them from controlling Greenland.
Greenland is an autonomous territory within Denmark. Denmark is a member of NATO. If Russia or China enter Greenland, NATO countries, including the USA, are obliged to help out.
It won’t happen.
The Danes are playing dog in the manger with Greenland, lacking the will and resources to defend or develop it, but blocking any Western attempt to do either.
Presumptively, they are responding to anti-development Greens, along with indigenous rights fantasists.
“lacking the will and resources to defend…”. This comment is devoid of knowledge. There is an existing, in force, agreement between the USA and Denmark based on the wish of the USA to defend Greenland. The only actor who “lacks the will and resources to defend” Greenland is the USA. The USA did have more than 10.000 personell stationed there on multiple military bases, but has chosen to withdraw. The Danes have never asked the USA to withdraw. If the USA wants to defend Greenland it is welcome to do so, based on an existing agreement that basically provides carte blanche access.
Indeed but no..Trump wants to own it. Imperialist ambitions.
I don’t think that they will help out either. 🙂
A unilateral US takeover threatens to disrupt the
open scientific collaborationclimate cabal that ishelping us understandfoisting on us the fake threat of global sea-level rise.There, fixed.
I think that $40,000 in 1897 is probably closer to $10 million than $1.5 million today.
$1.56 million
Good news. I was worried that a US takeover might cause Greenland to capsize.
” as one-sided as anything the president may now be contemplating.”
Crank the speculation up to 11! Horrors!
Two thoughts: 1: the locals get a lot of free stuff from Uncle Sam;
2: The USA’s national debt per person gets diluted
by 56,500 charming citizens.
What’s not to like?
Democrats/leftists, besides TDS, don’t like it because they hate ICE.
Democrats don’t like living where it’s cold. So it would give Republicans 3 more seats in Congress and the House
Democrats don’t like living where it’s cold.
Looks at map showing Minnesota, New England, Colorado, and Canada. 🧐
Beat me to it. I grew up in Boston.
Also, USSR existed if R-D is converted to R-L.
Thems are the DumbOCrats
Minnesota is very Republican except in metropolitan Minneapolis where the Democrats have imported non-working Somalis.
Probably worried that they’d be treated like Puerto Rico?
“The administration of former President Donald Trump obstructed an investigation looking into why officials withheld about $20 billion in hurricane relief for Puerto Rico following the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, one of the deadliest U.S. natural disasters in over 100 years.”
Notice the use of the word ‘may’. All the climate hype is, ‘may’, ‘could’, ‘might’. It is more likely that a Tunguska-like event could happen tomorrow over Ukraine ending the war.
Not only should we avoid preventing them from going there, but we should be sending them there. It would be the perfect place for avoiding the dreaded Climate Change! It would be a win-win for everyone.
I don’t see how the takeover of Greenland will impact my access to a climate scientist.
Especially if they’re being held in your basement.
If Trump takes Greenland, whether or not climate scientists get access, will be the least of the problems.
Certainly for China and Russia… Everyone else will be CHEERING. !
Why would anyone except Putin (and obviously you) cheer a NATO country invading another.
Because Trump might actually do something with it. !
So what? Not his to do anything with. And the Greenlanders are doing something with it.
Because bnice likes a dictator. He gets off on it..Has dreams of humiliating lesser opponents.
Just notice how eager these people are. It is the stuff that made the nazis.
It’s dark..
Fortunately President Trump (47) won’t simply “TAKE” Greenland…Denmark would be Well Compensated for the purchase.
Of course Russia would have issues with it as Moscow is only 2800 miles from Greenland.
Denmark does not want to sell so what is next?
Trump’ll “Make then am offer they Can’t Refuse”
It is a smart negotiating tactic to say that they have no interest in selling when there is a potential buyer. It gives the Danes/Greenlanders the edge.
Hello… they don’t want to sell.
It doesn’t matter what Denmark wants. What matters is what the people of Greenland want.
Nope. Greenland is a legal protectorate of Denmark. an autonomous territory to be specific. Ans as this was all done legally and endorsed by the USA Trump would in fact be break international law if he invaded. Laws matter remember, or so trump supporters keep telling us. That is until they attack cops with pepper spray and iron bars. Then Trump lets them go.
Now I see Germany plans to support its NATO friend by actively sending ships and troops. And I see Britain may well join them. Good to see some countries still honour their commitments.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360923455/germany-plans-nato-mission-protect-greenland
Trump and his supporters dont give a flying F about ‘international law’. It is just ‘dictator law’. And bragging about it.
Pathetic. Maffia arseholes low lives..
Well said.
You see many people on this platform salivating about Trump’s moves in Venezuela and Greenland. The historically ignorant and totally propagandised crowd who see enemies everywhere, like Russians and Chinese around Greenland.
Well, if you see enemies everywhere you certainly will make those enemies stick together. The law of unintended consequences. Whether Biden or Trump, it doesnt matter.
Overblown imperial ambitions followed by demise. It is a longstanding historical pattern. But empires ALWAYS think they are the exception to the rule and are arrogant enough to simply deny it.
The US is following exactly the UK’s trajectory. God help us..
But if the US genuinely thinks there is a threat to Greenland then there is a perfectly good alliance called NATO to stop any Russian or Chinese invasion,
I can’t believe someone downvoted this. Is WUWT being overtaken by Russian BOTS?
Since when did the 5% population of the USA get to decide on the ‘sovereignty’ of the whole world?
This is not a minor crime, it’s one that is justifiable in murdering 100 million plus US monsters.
Not that anyone wants to do that, but the USA has crossed a rubicon from which there is no return.
It has decided it is a global ruler, answering to no-one, oh, except for the Jews and Israelis who buttf**k the traitor Donald J Trump for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
One day, US citizens will wake up and realise that Trump is a traitor to the USA and a slave to Israel.
Israel is using their paedophile rapist Mossad asset to establish a Jewish Global World Order by stealth.
Greenland is not the USA’s to steal, nor is Venezuela, nor is anywhere else outside the lower 48.
Difficult to get that into the thick heads of mentally subnormal cretins, I guess.
Might get the prize for the most disparaging words in a single posting. However – I wonder how this might square with the views of any indigenous race who were ousted using force by immigrants. There might be one or two examples from history.
Is he a Russian or Islamic operative? or a Democrat ?
Whatever, the TDS and America hatred is many layers deep.
Somebody quietly call the guys in the white coats.
Need very solid white van with a flashing green light… double straitjacket
… this guy is raving and demented.
Have all the lend/lease shipments to our WWII allies been repaid? Who rebuilt Japan and Europe and funded the UN for decades? Is there any other country that has done as much to improve the lives of those destroyed by the war?
Might is right in international relations. And the United States is not invading any countries.. You are the one who should be tried for threatening 100 million Americans. Your anti-Semitic rant shows what kind of a person you are.
Indeed. Well said.
Trump should offer to buy a chunk of Greenland – don’t need the whole place….but of course Denmark doesn’t need it. Antarctica has 6 million year old ice with air trapped inside it – Antarctica is where its at for CC.
Google Pituffik Space Base
The present Inuit population arrived after the Norse settlers build settlements in Greenland. The previous population died out during the little ice age for unknown reasons.
Good. Make them get real jobs, plenty of sewage plants need cleaned by hand, start them there 10 year hard labor sentence.
Lesson one: if you invade an ally, the ally becomes an enemy, and all your existing enemies will be overjoyed.
Doesn’t make sense, of course Bully Trump does not.
But Circa 1980 an established Canadian airline had to get Danish permission to supply a scientific base in Greenland. (I presume Canadian base, I forget. Aircraft was civilian version of C-130, I recall though airline also had B727-100C that went onto ice in the High Arctic.)
I expect there’s already protocols between countries.
Even within a country – scientific station at Alert on Ellesmere Island next to Greenland is supplied by RCAF C-130 weather and runway condition permitting, perhaps by one ship visit in August.
That’s the station located long ago because there is a bit of a harbour.
Has been in the news because it has a weak Foehn wind effect, at one time it was the only weather station in NASA’s database located north of 60.
(Alert is at 82-30N, US base Thule is at 76-30, with permission of Denmark whose flag is flown on it along with US flag.)
Leftists presume to know what’s best for Greenlanders: a defining characteristic of tyrants. Not one has suggested asking the 30,000 Greenlanders what they want. Based on recent elections and party platforms, most want autonomy from Denmark. Around half are interested in a better alliance with the United States. President Trump is clear about what he wants and why. I agree with him. Instead of listening to the vapid leftist tyrants presuming to speak for Greenlanders, let’s ask them. Trump makes an offer and they vote on it. All the rest is sound and fury signifying nothing.
85% of Greenlanders do not want to be part of the USA in a recent poll, Greenlanders have been asked and have overwhelmingly rejected the idea, and who could blame them. What do they get if the USA takes over their Island. Health care NO, School funding NO, Paid sick leave or holiday pay NO.
Besides: google Pituffik Space Base
So you think an opinion poll of a small percentage of the voters is a good way to preemptively decide for Greenlanders, rather than have them vote on an actual offer after it’s presented? You must be a leftist. Your autocratic nature is showing.
Trump makes an offer and they vote on it.
Polls are not elections and they aren’t a vote by the citizens. Is there a problem with putting an offer in writing before the voters so they can decide? Unlike the leftist PM Jens-Frederik Nielsen who has been frothing at the mouth, Naleraq party leader Pele Bromberg has spoken much more favorably toward Trump and has said that Denmark needs to shut up, as well as Nielsen, and let the Greenlanders decide; the most reasonable idea, but one you summarily rejected without consulting any Greenlanders. Are you a resident of Greenland? I’m not. I think they should decide what they want, not the elitists in government.
What do they get if the USA takes over their island?
Unparalleled prosperity from the country with the highest GDP per capita of the largest countries in the world, constitutionally-protected freedom that no European country can match, protection by the strongest military in the world, massive investment in their country to provide them with a lot more than tiny, inconsequential and neglectful Denmark would or could. Just for starters.
That sales pitch ran out of steam round about 1972..clearly you are still in that mindset. Oh well..
They’d become a US colony with second-class citizenship like Puerto Rico!
WattsUpWithThat used to have many interesting posts and people commenting providing insight and knowledge. Reading both this post and many of the comments to it I must say the site has stooped to a very low point. The lack of knowledge and comprehension is mind-boggling.
Sad to see this.
The climate war is winding down and some of the people who used to post here are no longer posting. I hope they just lost interest but are still with us.
I was gone for a while, came back but, judging by all the politics, might leave again..
I think WUWT should refrain from politics if it steers outside the Climate issue as it clearly attracts some bad shit morons whom i otherwise would agree with..
Apparently it is ok for the US just to take over a foreign country. That seems acceptable now. Ok, just dont give us anymore of that ‘shining light on the hill’ stuff we didnt eat anyway.
Just tell it like it is: we want what you have and we are going to take it.
So much for yr founding fathers, the american constitution, the Monroe Doctrine and any signed document that defends sovereignty.
Just a big fat F you. Imperialist Pig..