In fact, the Arctic ice sheet will be thin enough for ice breakers to carve a straight path between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, according to a study by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA. Another study found that by the end of the 21st century, the Northern Sea Route could be navigable for more than half the year.
In particular, the Arctic has experienced major ice decline within the last decade. So what is happening? Typically, the ice follows a seasonal cycle. For example, in the spring and summer months, the warmer temperatures cause the ice floating on top of the Arctic Ocean to shrink. Then as the temperatures drop in the fall and winter months, the ice cover grows again until it reaches its yearly maximum extent, typically in March.
In , however, a combination of warmer-than-average temperatures, winds unfavorable to ice expansion, and a series of storms halted sea ice growth in the Arctic. Overall, the ice reached just 5. In fact, on Feb. According to NASA , the total polar sea ice on this date covered only 6. This number is , square miles 2 million square km smaller than the average global minimum extent for This is equivalent to losing a chunk of sea ice bigger than Mexico.
The most frequent above-ice inhabitants of the Arctic are migratory birds, such as the small snow bunting, fulmar, kittiwake and the Arctic tern, which has the longest migration of any bird, traveling 43, miles 69, km round trip from the North to South Pole every year. Caribou and Arctic foxes do not venture to the North Pole; polar bears make rare appearances.
Under the ice, one finds small crustaceans, shrimp, sea anemones and several species of fish, the most common being the Arctic cod. Marine mammals such as narwhals and other whales rarely venture so far north, though ring seals have been spotted occasionally.
The Arctic had been explored for centuries as expeditions sought a Northwest Passage — a sea route from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The 19th century brought the first major attempts to reach the North Pole.
British Admiral William Edward Parry led an expedition in , followed by Norwegian explorers on a land-based trek, a Swedish explorer who tried to reach it by hydrogen balloon, and many others. None of these expeditions was successful.
In the early 20th century, two explorers each claimed to have reached the North Pole first. An American physician, Frederick Albert Cook, announced in September that he and two Inuit companions had reached the pole on April 21, A week later, American explorer Robert E.
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Manage Print Subscription. Main Menu Search nationalpost. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser, or tap here to see other videos from our team. More From Forbes. Nov 12, , am EST.
Nov 11, , am EST. Nov 10, , am EST. Nov 9, , pm EST. Nov 9, , am EST. Edit Story. The northernmost place on Earth is hardly a place at all: It is a featureless spot in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, covered by shifting masses of ice. And yet everyone seems to want it.
This May, after a decade of preparation, Canada threw its bid in the ring, submitting a report to the United Nations Oceans and Law of the Sea Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf , claiming that the North Pole should be its territory.
Denmark did the same thing back in , claiming the North Pole was really an underwater part of Greenland. And in , years after the flag stunt, Russia submitted a formal claim that the North Pole should be theirs. But why the North Pole? In the part of the Arctic Ocean still up for grabs—including the North Pole—the probability of discovering a major source of oil is less than 10 percent , according to a US Geological Survey report from
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