the Arctic 2020: The Arctic Today
The Arctic Transformed
1818–1875 Partitioning the North Pacific
1875–1939 Claiming the Far North
1939–1945 World War II in the Arctic
1945–pres The Arctic Transformed
The Arctic Today
4 Apr 1949 North Atlantic Treaty
17 Aug 1977 Nuclear Standoff
12 Mar 2015 Climate Change
15 Jan 2020 The Arctic Today
The past few years have seen the continued decline of Arctic sea ice, with sea ice extents reaching record lows in 2016 and again in 2017 (similar but not record levels were recorded in 2018 and 2019). Low sea ice levels have contributed to both extreme weather events and ecosystem collapse in the northern regions, and opened up the Arctic for increased shipping. In August 2017 a Russian tanker completed the Northern Sea Route without icebreakers—the first ship to do so in history—and a year later the cargo ship Venta Maersk became the first commercial ship to make the route.
