“The thawing permafrost, which can heave or slump, has ruptured roads and exposed the macabre contents of old graves. Extremely windy, heavy snowstorms—once rare—have triggered deadly avalanches on the mountain slopes looming above Longyearbyen. Yet the snow season is shorter. The sea ice is retreating. Glaciers that reach down from the mountains are among the most rapidly melting on earth … Svalbard’s polar bears and reindeer are struggling to find food.” Let’s take a quick trip to Longyearbyen on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard for a front row seat to climate change. It is the fastest-warming town in the world. (It’s not alone. There’s a backlog of customers here in Sausalito waiting to get air conditioning units installed.) Scientific American: The World’s Northernmost Town Is Changing Dramatically.

+ Svalbard isn’t just home to climate’s most dramatic changes. It’s also the place where we measure the impact of climate change across the rest of the planet. A very cool photographic essay from the NYT: Here’s the Arctic Station That Keeps Satellites Connected.