Yet the mood among China’s Arctic researchers was subdued as they gathered in early February for two conferences in Tromso in northern Norway. At the annual China-Nordic Arctic Research Centre conference,

Defence Secretary John Healey says British personnel in Norway will rise from 1,000 to 2,000 over three years.

Greenland is believed to hold significant deposits of rare-earth elements. Mining them, however, is another story.

"Very cold daytime temperatures will struggle to rise above the teens and single digits," the Weather Prediction Center said.

A coalition of nations and environmental groups is lobbying the International Maritime Organization to create regulations around black carbon, or soot, that spews from ships and blankets parts of glaciers and snow.

Officials said the project will create more than 2,400 jobs for the Galveston and Port Arthur communities and invest more than $730 million to grow the business in Texas.

China is paying Russia to join Arctic expeditions while also pushing for greater cooperation from Nordic states.

The US is a nation divided, with frigid conditions, snow and ice entrenched east of the Rockies all the way into Florida, and record warmth and paltry snowfall in the West.

Beijing’s Polar Silk Road expansion into the Arctic triggers a fresh confrontation with Trump and the West, turning melting ice into a high-stakes battleground for global trade and military dominance.