This picture was last month. This is the condition of the Arctic Ocean at the depth of winter in 2018.

1 March 2018

By Jessica Brown

For the very first time, a Russian tanker has traversed the Northern Sea Route in winter without an icebreaker

...Countries (click here) can apply to extend this zone if they believe their continental margin extends further: this has already caused tension between states. Denmark, for example, has claimed territory around Lomonosov Ridge including the North Pole, which overlaps with large parts of Russia’s claim.

The EU, and nine of the world’s biggest fishing nations including Canada, Russia, China, the US, Japan, Iceland, Denmark and South Korea, signed a temporary agreement last year to prohibit fishing in the central Arctic Ocean for 16 years in order to allow scientific research to examine the area unhindered. 

But as it becomes more accessible, Arctic states are now looking at how they can exploit the area for natural resources.  Experts suggest that, at the current rate of ice decline, it will become economically feasible to set up extraction operations by around 2040.

Chris Yesson, research fellow at the Institute of Zoology, says that, while winter crossings will remain rare in the short term, the shipping which does traverse the Arctic ocean will probably transport high-value materials such as fuel.

This could in turn cause more ice to break up, as well as increasing noise pollution and raising the risk of oil and gas spillage....