The Northern Sea Route as a Shipping Lane, 1st ed. 2016 Expectations and Reality

This book analyses the current and future viability of the Northern Sea Route as a stable transport route for the international transit traffic between Europe and the Far East. It includes the present conditions, defining and evaluating viability factors for using the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The book makes a projection for NSR in the future, taking into account the climatic change in the Arctic findings presented in the IPCC report. This study, based on the author?s PhD thesis, analyses meteorological, hydrologic, bathymetric and other data for the evaluation of the navigation criteria. It is intended for a wide spectrum of readers, from students and scientists of Earth sciences and polar geography, navigation, political science researchers and politicians interested in Arctic affairs.

PART I. The Northern Sea Route in global shipping and history.- Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. A brief history of navigation on the Northern Sea Route.- PART II. Environmental conditions – bathymetry, climate and hydrology.- Chapter 3. Environmental conditions affecting the use of the Northern Sea Route as a shipping lane.- Chapter 4. Sea ice occurring on the seas of the Russian Arctic and its impact on navigating the Northern Sea Route.- PART III: Technical conditions – vessels, infrastructure, routes and nodal points.- Chapter 5. Technical conditions affecting the use of the Northern Sea Route as a shipping lane.- Chapter 6. Variants of the Northern Sea Route.- PART IV: Current and further accessibility of the Northern Sea Route –expectations and reality.- Chapter 7. Route selection on the Northern Sea Route under continuously changing ice conditions.- Chapter 8. The possibility of using the Northern Sea Route in the light of climate change scenarios.- Chapter 9. Summary and conclusions.