First Essay in Artica Writings 2025 Published: Unruly Bodies of Water by Hanna Mortensdatter Vandeskog
Hanna Mortensdatter, photo by Christian Olstad.
Artica Svalbard is pleased to announce the publication of the first essay in this year’s edition of Artica Writings 2025: Beneath the Surface – Deep-Sea Mining and the Arctic. The essay, titled Unruly Bodies of Water, is now live on our website.
In this timely and incisive piece, writer and researcher Hanna Mortensdatter Vandeskog examines the political, legal, and ecological tensions surrounding Norway’s decision to open parts of its continental shelf to deep-sea mining. Vandeskog highlights how ocean governance often treats the sea as a flat, territorial surface, while deep-sea environments — especially the vast and little-understood midwater — operate as dynamic, fluid volumes that easily cross borders.
Drawing on scientific research and recent policy debates in the Nordic region, the essay sheds light on the risk of mining-related sediment plumes and pollutants drifting far beyond extraction zones. Vandeskog argues that these transboundary dynamics challenge state-centric approaches to marine resource management and call for more equitable, cooperative forms of stewardship.
Read the full essay here: https://www.articasvalbard.no/artica-writings-2025/unruly-bodies-of-water
About the Author
Hanna Mortensdatter Vandeskog is a writer and researcher whose work explores ocean politics, environmental governance, and the socioecological impacts of emerging extractive industries. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Oslo, where she focused on political ecology
About Artica Writings 2025: Beneath the Surface –
Deep-Sea Mining and the Arctic
Artica Writings is Artica Svalbard’s annual essay series, bringing together writers, researchers, and thinkers to explore urgent questions shaping the Arctic. The 2025 edition examines the emerging deep-sea mining industry and its implications for Arctic environments, governance, and global ocean futures. Essays will be published periodically in both Norwegian and English, and later compiled as a limited-edition book.