Climate change is strongly impacting the Arctic environment, leading to rapid sea ice loss. In some sectors, the retreating ice edge is perceived as an opportunity to expand and develop economic activities. Previous studies show this development in the Canadian and Russian Arctic. This paper examines mobility patterns of cruise ships and fishing vessels around Svalbard, a major hotspot of maritime activity and retreating sea ice cover, in relation to sea ice variability between August 2012 and September 2019. The results show a slight overall increase in fisheries and cruise activity, as well as remarkable trends of stretching operational seasons and expanding navigational areas in these sectors. Overall increasing activity and changing mobility patterns provoke a discussion about the implications for safe navigation and sustainable management, thus raising issues of high pan-Arctic relevance.

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Recognition is growing that valuable weather, water, ice and climate (WWIC) services for marine, Arctic environments can only be produced in close dialogue with its actual users. This denotes an acknowledgement that knowing how users incorporate WWIC information in their activities should be considered throughout the information value chain. Notions like co-production and user engagement are current terms to grapple with user needs, but little is known about how such concepts are operationalized in the practical context of tasks and responsibilities of National Meteorological and Hydrometeorological Services (NMHS). Based on a series of in-depth, qualitative interviews with a diversity of personnel from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, we describe the shifting dynamics of interactions between WWIC information providers and maritime stakeholders operating in Arctic environments. Three key challenges are discussed, pertaining to both day-to-day and strategic interactions:(1) the importance of knowing how information is used, (2) the increasing automation of meteorological practices and the growing need for user observations, and (3) the need for bridging research-tooperations gaps. We embed these findings in a discussion on how user-producer interfaces are shaped and transforming through an ongoing negotiation of expertise, changing the roles and responsibilities within particular constellations of co-producing WWIC information services. ARTICLE HISTORY

Petroleum activities are associated with high risks. In the 1980s, concerns arose about the environmental impacts of 'normal' petroleum activity. Regular operations go hand-in-hand with emissions to air and discharges to sea. Both have been subject to extensive regulation since the 1990s. This paper analyzes the design and implementation of the Norwegian system that regulates operational discharges to the marine environment. It analyzes the changing relationships among science, politics and the industry and describes how the turn from a prescriptive to a predominantly performance-based approach was fundamental in making progress toward less polluting practices. The article describes how risk regulation was institutionalized and highlights the benefits of involving the industry in the pursuit of environmental protection. It also cautions against a lax attitude toward control and oversight, as complexification of risk objects and the increase of institutional risks can lead to mismatches in risk management.