Fiction: Donald Niedekker's ‘Strange and Perfect Account From the Permafrost'
Donald Niedekker's evocative fictional reckoning with the expedition, 'Strange and Perfect Account From the Permafrost,' is narrated by an imagined member of Barentsz's crew who would ultimately perish on Novaya Zemlya. The book, translated from the Dutch by Jonathan Reeder, takes as its inspiration for the character an unnamed sailor found in the diary of Gerrit de Veer, one of the real-life surviving shipmates, and invents for him a biography, making the narrator an itinerant poet who joins the crew to document its adventures. He duly records the wonder and terror of spouting whales and huddles of walruses ('an arbitrary patchwork of tails, heads, skin folds, tusks'), of polar-bear attacks and bewildering arctic mirages.
The wrinkle is that the narrator delivers his account 400 years later from the vantage of his grave in Novaya Zemlya, which the warming planet is beginning to thaw. He thus exists outside of time and space, and his omniscient gaze fixes not only on his own life and death but on the fortunes of others in the age of exploration, including the cartographer Petrus Plancius, whose assurance that the Northeast Passage would offer clear sailing planted the seed for Barentsz's catastrophe. Tragedy has not slowed in the centuries since the narrator's death: He has witnessed Stalin's gulags fill Siberia and seen his island used as a Soviet test site for a hydrogen bomb.
The quiet of the grave gives the narrator a serene detachment from all this havoc. The reflections, which drift in elegant patterns like blown snow, frequently muse on the vision of eternity inspired by the arctic void: 'Novaya Zemlya is the Nothing you must come to terms with. You do that by grasping that this Nothing is All, that All and Nothing are the same thing.'
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Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
Russian Nuclear Sabotage In Space Could Decimate Western Satellites
Russia, creator of the world's most powerful nuclear weapon, the Tsar Bomb, is likely set to launch ... More a nuclear-powered spacecraft aimed at sabotaging Western satellites across low Earth orbit. (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP) (Photo by NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images) Even as Russia races to perfect a nuclear-armed spacecraft, its space weapons designers are likely also preparing to launch a stealth alternative to similarly threaten constellations of Western satellites speeding around the planet. As the Kremlin ramps up its secret, subversive attacks on the Western powers aiding besieged Ukraine, its century-long expertise in sabotage—starting with Soviet insurrectionists Lenin and Stalin—could next be directed to upend the realm of low Earth orbit, says Elena Grossfeld, an expert on Russia's space and nuclear arms programs at King's College London. While Moscow presses forward with its top-secret project, discovered by American intelligence agencies, to deploy nuclear-tipped anti-satellite missiles in orbit, the detonation of a fission bomb hundreds of kilometers above the Earth would undoubtedly trigger a rapid response by NATO, Grossfeld tells me in an interview. An Accidental Nuclear Explosion In Space Provides 'Plausible Deniability' Less obviously confrontational would be the 'accidental' explosion of a nuclear-powered spacecraft, which could likewise take out a sizable swath of Allied satellites while shielding Moscow in a cloud of 'plausible deniability,' she says. The Russian space agency Roscosmos has already launched a satellite—likely a defense prototype on a precursor mission—sent into orbit near the edge of the high-radiation rings of the Van Allen belt, she says. Sabotaging this orbital zone by remotely triggering the explosion of a nuclear-propelled craft would pump up the belt's radiation levels and in turn destroy or damage a cascade of nearby satellites. The 'Beauty' of Sabotage - in the Eyes of the Kremlin The 'beauty' of this type of sabotage operation, she says, is that it could never be absolutely proven to have been an intentional Russian attack on American and European spacecraft, which could forestall a collective NATO response. Sabotage is a central component of the Kremlin's statecraft, and random acts of subversion—believed to be orchestrated by Moscow—have proliferated across Europe since Russian tanks and missiles began pummeling Ukraine three years ago. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said during a summit of the alliance's foreign ministers that Russia has 'tried to destabilize our countries and divide our societies with acts of sabotage.' NATO Leaders Seek Collective Response to Russian Acts of Sabotage Ministers representing the 32 NATO nations, Rutte said, have 'agreed a set of measures to counter Russia's hostile and cyber activities, including enhanced intelligence exchange, more exercises, better protection of critical infrastructure.' Moscow's spiraling campaign of sabotage, he added, reflected 'the escalating dangers of the ongoing war in Ukraine.' The Kremlin's steady stream of threats to use its nuclear weapons arsenal—the world's largest—against any NATO nation directly intervening to help Ukraine repel Russia's invasion forces signals that it already views the West as an enemy, Grossfeld says. Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly threatened to target Western Allies of Ukraine with ... More nuclear missiles, and could next launch a nuclear sabotage mission to decimate U.S. and European satellites. AFP PHOTO / KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV (Photo credit should read KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/GettyImages) And the current overwhelming, supreme U.S. power in orbit, with advanced imaging, intelligence and nuclear command and control satellites, makes its ever-expanding constellations attractive targets. Leveling the Battlefield Before Space War I To level the battlefield before an anticipated Space War I, she predicts, Russia might opt to stage a devastating pre-emptive sabotage strike, via the self-destruction of its nuclear-powered craft. The intensified charged particles whizzing through orbit— triggered by the Kremlin's space kamikaze mission—might take out thousands of American satellites, she predicts, while potentially sparking indecision across the West on whether to treat this maneuver as the orbital version of a Pearl Harbor attack. SpaceX Could Be a Prime Target of Russian Space Sabotage Mission SpaceX's mega-constellation of Starlink satellites, which have provided Ukraine's embattled president, national security council and citizenry with crucial internet connections, would be a prime target in Russia's orbital sabotage. Since Moscow's missiles began blitzing democratic Ukraine, Vladimir Putin's emissaries to the UN have repeatedly threatened to start shooting down SpaceX satellites, and Russia has already deployed advanced jet fighters, missile brigades and swarms of suicide drones to attack Starlink terminals across Ukraine. Putin's envoys to the UN have repeatedly threatened to begin shooting down SpaceX satellites aiding ... More Ukraine, and a new orbital sabotage mission could decimate SpaceX's constellation - the world's largest. (Photo by) While warning it could commence firing anti-satellite missiles against any Western spacecraft aiding Ukraine, Grossfeld tells me, 'Russia has been investing in multiple launch methods' for its fleets of ASATs. Yet a booby-trapped nuclear-fueled spacecraft, she adds, would be a far more powerful weapon. Moscow's stepped-up embrace of sabotage is part of Putin's overarching goal of restoring Russia to its position as a Soviet superpower, when it ruled over a far greater realm. Just as Russia has declined in its military might since the break-up of the Soviet Union a generation ago, Grossfeld says, its status as one of the globe's foremost space powers has likewise slipped away. Russia has seen its status as a space superpower fade into history, and could launch an orbital ... More sabotage operation to strike at the current supreme leader in space - the U.S. (Photo by) A grand strategy of nuclear sabotage in space would be aimed at decimating American dominance in orbit, even if it meant that Russia destroyed part of its own diminutive constellations in the process, she says. Russia Arming for Space War I with the Western Allies Russia has already amply signaled it is arming for Space War I with the Western Allies, Grossfeld points out. Even before Kremlin troops began storming Ukraine's borders, before their missiles were launched to engulf Ukraine's cities and cathedrals in flames, their commanders led a secret mission they hoped would ensure a speedy victory in a lightning war. Russia's First Attack on an American Satellite System Moscow's military intelligence leadership carried out a surprise ambush in the first battle of this space war by targeting the ground terminals of the U.S. satellite constellation that Ukraine's defense ministry relied on to command air force pilots, navy captains and soldiers across the nation. This cyber-attack swiftly crashed thousands of Viasat transceivers, and cut off communication lifelines linking Ukraine's democratic rulers with their armed guardians, and with their allies across Europe and the globe. The United Kingdom's foreign secretary lashed out at 'Russian Military Intelligence' for staging the assault on the American satellite operator, and on Ukraine, and threatened the Kremlin would face 'severe repercussions.' Yet since then, Grossfeld says, sanctions imposed on Russia have failed to deter Putin's expansionist ambitions and dreams of a renewed Soviet empire, or his escalating acts of sabotage aimed at destroying the willpower of the West and its backing for Ukraine. 'Despite multiple sabotage operations in Europe,' she adds, 'no actions have been taken by either the U.S. or NATO against Russia.' That could inspire Putin to extend his clandestine campaigns of subversion into the heavens, she predicts, even as he gains ground in his terrestrial war against Ukraine.
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Science and local sleuthing identify a 250-year-old shipwreck on a Scottish island
LONDON — When a student going for a run on the beach found the ribs of a wooden ship poking through the dunes on a Scottish island, it sparked a hunt by archaeologists, scientists and local historians to uncover its story. Through a mix of high-tech science and community research, they have an answer. Researchers announced Wednesday that the vessel is very likely the Earl of Chatham, an 18th-century warship that saw action in the American War of Independence before a second life hunting whales in the Arctic — and then a stormy demise. 'I would regard it as a lucky ship, which is a strange thing to say about a ship that's wrecked,' said Ben Saunders, senior marine archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, a charity that helped community researchers conduct the investigation. 'I think if it had been found in many other places, it wouldn't necessarily have had that community drive, that desire to recover and study that material, and also the community spirit to do it,' Saunders said. The wreck was discovered in February 2024 after a storm swept away sand covering it on Sanday, one of the rugged Orkney Islands that lie off Scotland's northern tip. It excited interest on the island of 500 people, whose history is bound up with the sea and its dangers. Around 270 shipwrecks have been recorded around the 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) island since the 15th century. Local farmers used their tractors and trailers to haul the 12 tons of oak timbers off the beach, before local researchers set to work trying to identify it. 'That was really good fun, and it was such a good feeling about the community — everybody pulling together to get it back,' said Sylvia Thorne, one of the island's community researchers. 'Quite a few people are really getting interested in it and becoming experts.' Dendrochronology — the science of dating wood from tree rings — showed the timber came from southern England in the middle of the 18th century. That was one bit of luck, Saunders said, because it coincides with 'the point where British bureaucracy's really starting to kick off' and detailed records were being kept. 'And so we can then start to look at the archive evidence that we have for the wrecks in Orkney,' Saunders said. 'It becomes a process of elimination. 'You remove ones that are Northern European as opposed to British, you remove wrecks that are too small or operating out of the north of England and you really are down to two or three … and Earl of Chatham is the last one left.' Further research found that before it was the Earl of Chatham, the ship was HMS Hind, a 24-gun Royal Navy frigate built in Chichester on England's south coast in 1749. Its military career saw it play a part in the expansion — and contraction — of the British Empire. It helped Britain wrest control of Canada from France during the sieges of Louisbourg and Quebec in the 1750s, and in the 1770s served as a convoy escort during Britain's failed effort to hold onto its American colonies. Sold off by the navy in 1784 and renamed, the vessel became a whaling ship, hunting the huge mammals in the Arctic waters off Greenland. Whale oil was an essential fuel of the Industrial Revolution, used to lubricate machinery, soften fabric and light city streets. Saunders said that in 1787 there were 120 London-based whaling ships in the Greenland Sea, the Earl of Chatham among them. A year later, while heading out to the whaling ground, it was wrecked in bad weather off Sanday. All 56 crew members survived — more evidence, Saunders says, that this was a vessel blessed with luck. The ship's timbers are being preserved in a freshwater tank at the Sanday Heritage Centre while plans are discussed to put it on permanent display. Saunders said that the project is a model of community involvement in archaeology. 'The community have been so keen, have been so desirous to be involved and to find out things to learn, and they're so proud of it. It's down to them it was discovered, it's down to them it was recovered and it's been stabilized and been protected,' he said. For locals, it's a link to the island's maritime past — and future. Finding long-buried wrecks could become more common as climate change alters the wind patterns around Britain and reshapes the coastline. 'One of the biggest things I've got out of this project is realizing how much the past in Sanday is just constantly with you — either visible or just under the surface,' said Ruth Peace, another community researcher. Lawless writes for the Associated Press.
Boston Globe
9 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Where will the next big hurricane hit? Ask the sharks.
'The ocean is so huge, so enormous, that it's just inaccessible to anything, for the most part," said Aaron Carlisle, a University of Delaware marine ecologist leading the effort. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'But by instrumenting the animals that live out there,' he said, 'you can basically turn them into these ocean sensors that are constantly collecting data.' Advertisement Hurricanes form as the atmosphere sucks up heat from water, causing air to rise and form clouds that uncork torrential rain. Measuring the distribution of heat in the ocean is key to predicting where hurricanes will go and how strong they will be. 'The ocean is the heat engine for hurricanes. If they're going to intensify, usually they're going to go over hot water,' said Travis Miles, a physical oceanographer at Rutgers University. 'If they go over cold water, they're going to weaken.' Advertisement But taking the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean at various depths is no easy task. Weather satellites cannot see past the sea surface, which in the Atlantic often conceals pools of cool water. The robotic floats and gliders that meteorologists deploy to measure below-surface temperatures move slowly and are expensive to operate, leaving many data gaps in the open ocean. 'The scale of the ocean is just so massive and vast that we really have a lot of empty space where we need more observations,' said Miles, who is not involved in the shark research. The lack of data is especially acute in hurricane-prone waters in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and off the East Coast, he added. Several different types of animals have served as ocean sentinels. For years, researchers have tagged southern elephant seals in the Antarctic and narwhals in the Arctic with monitors that track temperature and other conditions in otherwise difficult-to-reach polar regions. Russia has even tried recruiting dolphins and beluga whales as intelligence-gathering assets. Now, to gather intelligence in the Atlantic, Carlisle and his colleagues are turning to sharks. 'Sharks are faster than [robotic] gliders. They can stay out for longer periods of time,' said Caroline Wiernicki, a shark ecologist and PhD student working with Carlisle. 'So the hope is that we can have these sharks go out and work in concert' with existing monitors. In May, the team threw baited hooks and blocks of frozen chum off a boat 40 to 50 miles offshore, causing an oily sheen to stretch for miles. 'It lays out a scent trail,' Carlisle said. 'Any shark that comes across it is going to think, 'Ooo, what's that?' And then they start following it up.' Advertisement The team detained two shortfin makos and attached sensors to measure the temperature, salinity and depth of the seawater. The researchers chose the makos because they return to the surface often, enabling the tags to relay the information to satellites. Makos are endangered as a result of overfishing, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Overall, 1 in 3 species of sharks and their cousins are threatened with extinction. Movies like 'Sharknado' and 'Jaws' - which debuted 50 years ago this year - have characterized sharks as ruthless killing machines and may have worked against efforts to protect them. But the researchers say they are big fans of sharks and don't expect the sensors to have much harmful impact on them. 'We do everything we can to minimize' the impact of puncturing the animals' fins,' Carlisle said. 'We all love the animals, so we don't want to hurt them.' So far, one of the two sharks has relayed temperature data to the researchers. The other has swum in water too shallow for the sensor to turn on. 'Each time we put one out, we learn something new, and it's a debugging exercise,' Wiernicki said. The work has been 'a great proof of concept,' Carlisle added. The plan is to tag dozens of sharks a year, Wiernicki said, with the aim of feeding the data into existing hurricane computer models so they produce more accurate forecasts. In addition to the makos, the crew also caught and installed a satellite tag on a great white to track its location, but not to read temperature. That species is also a candidate for becoming a weather monitor. The team hopes to test tagging other species, including hammerheads and whale sharks. Advertisement 'The more data we have, the better things will be,' said Jill Trepanier, a Louisiana State University professor specializing in hurricane climatology who is not involved in the project. 'So, if it's a shark collecting it or a buoy or glider, I say, go for it.'
