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Even ordinary ships will soon be able to sail the Arctic seas

Arctic sea ice is thinning so fast that open-water vessels could ply northern shipping routes within decades.
The bow of an icebreaker in the Arctic ocean cruising forward in pack ice.

An ice-breaker navigates Arctic waters, which could soon become accessible to ordinary vessels if global temperatures continue to climb. Credit: Josef Friedhuber/Getty

Key shipping lanes in the Arctic Ocean will remain open for more of the year as global temperatures rise and sea ice continues to melt1.

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Nature 605, 592 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01357-z

References

  1. Min, C. et al. Geophys. Res. Lett. 49, e2022GL099157 (2022).

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