Operation Coldfeet was a 1962 CIA mission to extract intelligence from abandoned Soviet Arctic ice station NP 8 using the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system. Two U.S. operatives parachuted onto the drifting station in May 1962 and were retrieved with Soviet equipment in June, yielding critical information on Soviet acoustic submarine detection systems and Arctic anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
A comparison tool displays the Mercator projection (1569) and the UN's adopted Equal Earth projection (2018) side by side to illustrate how different map projections distort country sizes. Mercator inflates polar regions like Canada, Russia, and Greenland while shrinking equatorial areas, whereas Equal Earth maintains accurate area representation while preserving a familiar oval appearance.
The UN General Assembly voted 164-6 to promote equal-area maps over the Mercator projection, which distorts continent sizes. However, major navigation apps like Google Maps are unlikely to adopt the change since the non-binding resolution only encourages alternatives without mandating them, and Mercator's practical navigation benefits have made it the standard for over 450 years.
The True Size Of is an interactive map tool that reveals how the Mercator projection distorts country sizes, allowing users to drag and compare regions. The Mercator projection exaggerates polar regions while shrinking equatorial countries—for example, Greenland appears as large as Africa on standard maps but is actually 14.5 times smaller.