In part because of warming and the retreat and thinning of Arctic sea ice in summer, this northern sea route is slowly becoming a reality. Russian vessels have long hauled ore and oil along the country’s sprawling northern coast, but no commercial ships under other flags have passed between Asia and Western Europe. Now, a German company, the Beluga Group of Bremen, has a ship poised to make what appears to be the first such trip, an 8,000-mile shortcut compared with alternate routes.The first commercial shipping through the Arctic will apparently take place this summer.
Miscellaneous thoughts on politics, people, math, science and other cool (if sometimes frustrating) stuff from somewhere near my favorite coffee shop.
Please forgive the completely off-topic comment!
ReplyDeleteWoGE#167 has been languishing for so long on Ron Schott's site that the Google imagery has actually changed. I think it's probably just escaped the attention of the geoblogosphere because the momentum was lost back in early spring, but it's time to get things rolling again. Ron tried to give a big hint recently, but he did it through Twitter. I thought I'd take the more drastic measure of posting a hint on some previous WoGE winners' sites: Windley and Allen, 1993.
Does this mean the Cold War is coming back? Sweet, I've always wanted a sequel to Red Dawn.
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