Thomas Nilsen

Tesla opens world’s northernmost Supercharger station

70 DEGREES NORTH - Long-distance winter drive through remote areas with electric cars in northernmost Europe is becoming safer and more reliable as a comprehensive network of Supercharger and high-power stations are switched on.
November 20, 2020

Wizz Air opens routes to Alta and Kirkenes with tickets from €10

A pint of beer at any of the airport bars in Norway costs more than a ticket for a two-hour flight to the north.
November 19, 2020

Russia’s latest nuclear icebreaker had to abort maiden Arctic voyage

The powerful "Arktika" set off from Murmansk on Saturday for a three-week assignment to the Northern Sea Route. Mid-Barents Sea, though, the icebreaker turned around and sailed back to port.
November 17, 2020

Mechanical failure leaves Russia's new Antarctica station stranded outside Angola

The 32-year old nuclear-powered container ship "Sevmorput" has an unexplained breakdown causing restricted maneuverability. The ship has sailed zig-zag outside port in Angola for more than two weeks.
November 13, 2020

Record November warmth in Svalbard

The Arctic fox is waiting for a delayed winter. 9.4 °C measured at the weather station in Reindalspasset just after midnight on November 12.
November 12, 2020

Murmansk Transport Hub in trouble as ministry terminates contract on railway construction

Work is stopped on the 46 km railway line to Lavna on the west side of the Kola Bay.
November 11, 2020

Christmas Day brings final end to Barents region's largest air polluter

Smelting will stop on December 25 at the plant in Nikel near Russia's border to Norway.
November 11, 2020

Northernmost non-Arctic state knocks on the Arctic Council door

Arctic challenges are likely not on the minds of beachgoers on the southern shores of Estonia, but the country brings a long list of arguments for why it should be granted observer status to the Arctic Council.
November 10, 2020

Clean Arctic Alliance calls on IMO to mirror Norway's ban on heavy fuel oil

Increased shipping in the Arctic leads to bigger risk of pollution unless the International Maritime Organization (IMO) takes action and ends the use of dirty shipping fuel.
November 09, 2020

Important climate data rescued by Norwegian Coast Guard north of Alaska

Lifting the instruments out of the ice-covered waters was a demanding job, but the scientists now have a year of collected data important for understanding the Arctic Ocean climate changes.
November 09, 2020

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Thomas Nilsen is editor of the Independent Barents Observer with its news desk located in Kirkenes, northern Norway. He has a long experience in media cooperation across the borders in the high north of Europe, both as radio- and newspaper reporter all the way back to the days before the breakup of the Soviet Union. 

Nilsen has been editor of Barents Observer since 2009.

He was Deputy Head of the Norwegian Barents Secretariat from 2004-2009. Until 2003, he worked 12 years for the Bellona Foundation’s Russian study group, focusing on nuclear safety issues and general environmental challenges in northern areas and the Arctic. 

Thomas has been traveling extensively across northern Scandinavia and Arctic Russia since the late 80’s working for different media and organizations. He is also a guide at sea and in remote locations in the Russian north for various groups and regularly lectures on security issues, environmental and socio-economic development.

Thomas Nilsen studied at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Mobile: +47-90573143

thomas@thebarentsobserver.com
@nilsen.thomas