Arctic Yearbook 2014 | Page 21

21 Mar: Angus King, US Senator from Maine, takes part in a US Navy excursion to the Arctic Ocean. (AP / Portland Press Herald) 21 Mar: Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean reaches its maximum extent for the year, at 14.9 million square km. (Danish Meteorological Institute) 31 Mar: Kuupik Kleist, longtime leader of Greenlandic political party Inuit Ataqatigiit, steps down. (Arctic Journal) 31 Mar: Despite the decline in government relations between NATO member Norway and Russia as the Ukraine conflict continues, Statoil chief Helge Lund and Rosneft chief Igor Sechin meet in Norway to discuss expanded cooperation between their companies. (Barents Observer) 26 Mar: A flurry of Russian fighter jets near the Finnish border causes alarm for some border residents in Finland. (Barents Observer) 26 Mar: An Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials’ meeting takes place in Yellowknife, NWT, Canada. 21 24 25 26 24 Mar: Other G8 leaders cancel a planned summit in Sochi in favor of a G7 without Russia in Brussels. (The Hill) 25 Mar: Norway announces it will suspend all bilateral military activities with Russia. (Barents Observer) 25 Mar: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon begins a three-day visit to Greenland to examine the effects of climate change. (Shanghai Daily) 28 Mar: Former Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg is named as the next Secretary General of NATO. (BBC) 27 28 27 Mar: The Council of Canadian Academies releases a report stating that “people in Nunavut have the highest food insecurity rate for any indigenous population in a developed country at 68 percent.” (Alaska Dispatch) 27 Mar: A campaign of “sealfies” on Twitter begins, in protest of a major donation to the anti-sealing Humane Society of the United States. The donated funds were generated by Ellen Degeneres’s wildly popular Oscar selfie. (Globe & Mail) 27 Mar: A new Arctic information and analytical center opens in Arkhangelsk, Russia. (Barents Observer) 31