Arctic Defence: The Growing Geopolitical Battle for the North

Radar domes seen above the roofs of buildings at a radar site, on Baffin Island, now in Nunavut, on April 10, 1956. Members of the radar force are seen struggling through the wind-blown snow. This site, above the Arctic Circle, is one of a number being built along a 3,000 mile distant early warning line from Baffin Island to Alaska. AP Photo

Commentary

The Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line) runs north of the Arctic Circle from Alaska in the west to Baffin Island in the east, then continues across Greenland. It was built by the United States, with the cooperation of Canada, at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s as a defence against the Soviet Union.