U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s vows to take over Greenland have chilled relationships between American and Greenlandic researchers, halting some projects and making future collaborations uncertain.
Ross Virginia, a professor emeritus of environmental studies at Dartmouth College, said a climate program he ran with Greenlandic colleagues was halted by ¡°mutual agreement¡± due to the tensions.
¡°Direct cooperation is paused while we determine what a future vision for collaborative science diplomacy ¡ª particularly involving education and younger students ¡ª could look like,¡± he said.
Another U.S. scientist, who asked not to be identified for fear of jeopardizing relationships, said some of his research partnerships in Greenland were paused even before Trump escalated talk of annexation in early January, and that he suspended fieldwork out of respect for Greenlanders.
While Trump has recently softened his line on the U.S. gaining control of the Arctic island ¡ª a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark and home to about 57,000 people ¡ª the tensions are hampering scientific work that is critical to understanding climate change, not just in the polar region but on a global scale.
Greenland is warming fast, and its massive ice sheet contains enough fresh water to raise global sea levels by 7 meters (23 feet). Scientists are investigating how the ice sheet is destabilizing and what that and changes in sea ice mean for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a key ocean current that moves hot and cold water over thousands of miles. The AMOC is thought to be weakening, which could shift weather patterns in many countries.
Much of this work is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation. It supports Summit Station, a U.S. research outpost at the top of the Greenland ice sheet that operates year-round and frequently partners with Greenlandic scientists and communities. NSF currently funds 19 active projects in Greenland consisting of 43 individual awards, with a total funding amount of $26 million, according to a spokesperson.
One Greenlandic scientist at a government institution said researchers are more cautious about accepting American funding or working with American scientists because of how it might look. The scientist asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the geopolitical situation.
Fiamma Straneo, an oceanographer at Harvard University who helped organize a joint statement of support for Greenland from U.S. scientists, said she¡¯s particularly worried about the consequences for planned projects that haven¡¯t yet gotten off the ground.
¡°It¡¯s much harder to create new collaborations with federal U.S. funding,¡± she said, citing wariness on the part of Greenlanders. Straneo has worked with local researchers on the island for almost 20 years. Because of fears the U.S. will try to influence politics on the island, she said, ¡°they are very worried about this.¡±
Greenland¡¯s government did not respond to a request for comment.
The setback for collaborative Arctic science comes on the heels of another, prompted by Russia¡¯s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Then, most European Union and NATO member countries suspended or restricted funding for work involving Russia, or its scientists, and a pipeline of critical climate data gathered inside the world¡¯s largest Arctic nation was cut off. Geopolitics adds to a growing list of challenges for climate science, including those stemming from Trump¡¯s domestic policies.
Virginia¡¯s work in Greenland is part of a climate diplomacy program established by the U.S. State Department in 2007 to bring American, Greenlandic and Danish students together to learn about climate science and the best ways to implement it in a fragile environment with many cultural sensitivities.
Last summer¡¯s trip was halted, Virginia said, because he and Greenlandic colleagues worried about how tensions would affect interactions between the high-school and college students from the three countries. Greenland has since created its own separate program, he said; if he opts to send an American cohort this year, they¡¯ll learn about climate science at U.S. facilities and won¡¯t interact with Greenlandic or Danish peers.
Yarrow Axford, a climate researcher affiliated with Northwestern University, has made eight field trips to Greenland to study what happened during past periods of rapid climatic change. ¡°I don¡¯t have field work planned in Greenland next summer but I certainly assume that if I did, it would all be up in the air right now,¡± said Axford, who spearheaded the joint statement.
Climate research in Greenland often involves the support of the U.S. military. In Axford¡¯s case, she has worked at the Pituffik Space Base, traveled on planes chartered by the Air Force and used military cargo planes to transport equipment. Although a bigger U.S. footprint in Greenland would likely mean an expansion of military infrastructure, Axford said she would stop using it if the U.S. maintained an aggressive stance toward the island.
¡°I hope that many of my colleagues would feel the same,¡± she said. ¡°It just wouldn¡¯t be right.¡±
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