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The authors analyzed the navigation along the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and developed the pathfinding algorithm for its strategic assessment. It creates a framework connecting weather observations with shipping operational parameters: travel speed, travel time, travel distance, the necessity of icebreaker escort. It is based on the A* algorithm, the Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System (AIRSS) methodology, and empirical relationships between ship's speed and environmental data. The idea is to minimize travel time since sailing through areas with severe weather conditions requires speed reduction. The objective function finds the fastest safe path with minimal icebreaker escort. We used 2019–2020 environmental data to test the algorithm and analyzed daily optimal NSR transit routes for Eastbound and Westbound directions. It was shown that environmental parameters significantly affect the vessel's path, while ice parameters make the largest contribution. Depending on the ship's ice class and sailing season, it takes between 11 and 38 days to complete the entire route. All obtained operational parameters are valuable for assessing transportation costs, profitability, and riskiness of NSR. We provide their seasonal, monthly, and weekly values, and statistical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is of strategic importance for the country. Considering the fragility of Arctic ecosystems, special attention needs to be paid to the sustainable development of transport and related infrastructure within the framework of the "blue economy" concept, which is relevant for Arctic waters. At the same time, it is necessary to identify the main factors and tasks of creating transport and port infrastructure, building a modern fleet, and organizing fisheries and tourism in an environmentally sound manner. The purpose of the study is to consider the problems of anthropogenic influence for seaport facilities and to create a conceptual model of an environmental risk management system. The existing problems of Arctic ports and infrastructure are analyzed and existing business processes are considered, taking into account the peculiarities of their functioning in Arctic conditions. To systematize environmental assessments and establish dependencies between the main indicators describing the impact of port activities on elements of the natural environment, ontological domain engineering is proposed. It systematizes the basic terminology used within different subject areas of ecology and risks and allows one to visualize the relationships between elements of the natural environment, objects, port systems, their parameters and impact factors to assess the impact of the seaport on the natural environment. The results of ontological engineering (design and development of ontologies) in the field of risk management are presented. Future research will be aimed at developing the applied aspect of applying the results of ontological engineering in terms of specific engineering studies related to the assessment of anthropogenic load on the Arctic territory using simulation modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic's navigation and utilization have garnered global interest due to the economic and strategic significance of its open shipping routes. The feasibility and cost-effectiveness of Arctic wind power generation depend largely on the potential of wind energy, which in turn influences the construction of new ports. In order to effectively harness polar wind energy, we must understand and adapt to its ever-changing rules. This study leverages ERA5′s 40-year wind field data to estimate the Theil–Sen Median slope and perform Mann–Kendall trend analysis. We consider factors such as wind power density, effective wind speed occurrence, energy level frequency, stability, and resource reserves to comprehensively analyze the intergenerational variations in Arctic wind energy resources. Our findings indicate that Northeast Passage, Davis Strait, and Baffin Bay possess favorable wind power density (1~2 W/m2·yr−1), effective wind speed occurrence (0.1~0.2%·yr−1), energy level frequency (0.1~0.2%·yr−1), stability (−0.005 yr−1), and resource reserves (1 kWh/m2·yr−1). However, these indicators are inferior in the Barents Sea, Canada's northern archipelagos, and Greenland's vicinity, where wind energy is relatively poor and unfavorable for development. Autumn dominates the annual change trend of Arctic wind energy, while spring and summer show no significant trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic summer sea ice has been declining in recent decades. In this study, we investigate the beginning of the Arctic melting season, i.e., sea ice melt onset (MO), in the Laptev Sea (LS) and East Siberian Sea (ESS) along the Northern Sea route. Three leading modes are identified by EOF decomposition, which we call the LE-mode, L-mode, and E-mode. In positive phases these modes exhibit earlier MO in the two seas, a seesaw-like structure in the southwest–northeast direction with earlier MO in the LS, or in the southeast–northwest direction with earlier MO in the ESS. The LE-mode, L-mode, and E-mode are closely related to the Arctic Oscillation (AO) in April, the Barents Oscillation (BO) in April, and the AO in May, respectively. When the AO in April is positive, a low pressure anomaly northwest of the LS and ESS brings warm, moist air masses from the lower latitudes toward the LS and ESS and causes earlier MO, corresponding to the positive LE-mode. When the BO in April is negative, a cyclonic anomaly around the Barents Sea tends to warm and moisten the LS and cause earlier MO there, corresponding to the positive L-mode. When AO in May is positive, a low pressure anomaly northeast of the LS and ESS brings more warm, moist air toward the ESS and causes earlier MO there, corresponding to the positive E-mode. In the 1980s, the negative LE-mode was prominent whereas in the early 1990s the positive LE-mode was dominant. Since the mid-1990s, the L-mode and E-mode have appeared more frequently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, the melting of Arctic ice due to global warming has provided opportunities for commercial shipping between Asia and Europe. Given the vulnerability of the Arctic environment, especially due to emissions of short-lived pollutants from shipping activities, a more effective propulsion system with a comprehensive control strategy is required to reduce fuel consumption, thus potentially mitigating the impacts of shipping activities on the northern sea route (NSR). In this paper, a shipboard DC hybrid system powered by a combination of diesel generator sets and batteries is proposed and analysed in terms of its application on a ship in the NSR. The specific fuel consumption and various losses in the power sources were analysed to develop an efficiency-optimisation control strategy for the proposed DC hybrid power system. To evaluate the performance of the hybrid power system with the proposed optimisation control strategy, lab-scale experiments have been conducted in the Shanghai Marine Diesel Engine Research Institute to compare the proposed system with a conventional hybrid system. The experimental results indicate that the proposed DC hybrid power plant with the energy optimisation control contributes a 5.35% fuel saving compared with the DC fixed-speed diesel electric configuration during a scaled-down NSR scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decreasing of Arctic sea ice is projected to continue with global warming, which makes the summer navigation conditions of the Arctic improve. Based on the multi-source remote-sensing data with inter-sensor calibration processing and the ship-based observational data from R/V Xuelong and M/V Yongsheng, the sea ice conditions of the Arctic Northeast Passage (NEP) during the 2002–2021 summer seasons were analyzed, and the navigability of the NEP between July and October from 2002 to 2021 was discussed. Inter-sensor calibration could effectively reduce the deviation from different passive microwave data. Sea ice extent and thickness in the NEP decreased annually, which resulted in the navigability of the NEP showing a potential tendency toward improvement in navigability. The navigation period was mainly concentrated in early August to early October. The middle part of the NEP was primarily affected by sea ice. This influence decreased over time, while the navigation period increased, especially in the Vilkitsky Strait, which is a key shipping area. This analysis of sea ice conditions and navigability in the past 20 years could provide a reference for future scientific investigations and aid in merchant ship navigation in the Arctic summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For many years, the Suez Canal (also known as the Suez Route) has been the main route connecting Europe and Asia. However, compared with the Suez Route, the Northeast Passage could save up to 41% of the journey. The ship carbon intensity index (CII) rating system of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) came into effect in 2023. This study took an existing bulk carrier on the Europe–Asia route as an example to calculate the attained CII values at different sailing speeds. It was found that, regardless of external factors, when the ship speed dropped from 14.4 knots (85% maximum continuous rating (MCR)) to 12.6 knots (55% MCR), the corresponding attained CII value decreased from 6.48 g/ton·nm to 5.19 g/ton·nm. Therefore, sailing speed was the key factor influencing the attained CII value, and it was independent of the shipping distance. In addition, when the ship's sailing output power was between 85% MCR and 75% MCR, for every 5% decrease in MCR, its attained CII value would decrease by 0.13 g/ton·nm, and the fuel consumption amount would decrease by 1 ton/day. However, when the ship sailed at an output power of 75% MCR to 55% MCR, for every 5% decrease in MCR, the attained CII value would decrease even more, up to 0.26 g/ton·nm. In addition, the attained CII value would be reduced by up to 100% and fuel consumption amount would be reduced by up to 1.5 ton/day, resulting in a 50% fuel saving effect. Therefore, to obtain a better CII rating, the optimal ship speed should be set between 75% MCR and 55% MCR according to the wave and wind strengths. However, although slow-speed sailing is the most efficient factor, the number of sailing days would also be extended. Through the ratio created by dividing the distance of the Northeast Passage by the Suez Route, whether the Northeast Passage has the benefit of balancing shipping schedules could be judged. The outcome indicated that a ratio lower than 1 would result in a more balanced shipping schedule. Compared with 2019, the number of ships sailing through the Northeast Passage in 2021 increased significantly by 132%, and the average dead weight tonnage of the ships also rose from 18,846 tons to 23,736 tons. This study found that, with the implementation of the carbon reduction policy of the CII rating, ships sailing through the Northeast Passage could continue to develop toward the trend of large-sized vessels and steady increase in ship number. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to present information on the exploits of early Russian mariners, probably coming from settlements in the Russian North, in the development of the Arctic, in particular, the northeastern sea route. Historical artifacts of the seven teenth century found on the Faddey Islands and in Simsa Bay indicate that the entrepreneurial Russian polar sailors mastered the harsh Arctic regions long before European sailors. Archaeologist Aleksei P. Okladnikov has shown that these polar sailors of the seven teenth century were skilled shipbuilders, knew navigation, used nautical equipment, knew the languages of the indigenous population, had writing skills, and played chess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of state capitalism is attracting growing attention in economic geography and political economy. We contribute to the debate by exploring the authoritarian state capitalism variant whereby the state moves beyond a predominantly regulatory role and appears as the dominant actor. We take Russia to be a prominent example of authoritarian state capitalism because the central state has subjugated economy, created organisational structures and designed development strategies to serve the interests of the kleptocrat, inverting the conventional meaning of 'state capture'. The paper illustrates the centrality of the state by exploring two state-sponsored megaprojects: (i) the upgrade of the Northern Sea Route and (ii) the construction of innovation clusters (Skolkovo). In the first case, the state directs resources to the Northern Sea Route to secure Russia's control of the Arctic. In the second case, the state attempts to replicate the perceived developmental success stories of the West by fostering technology clusters. Each illustrative case offers an instructive insight into Russia's authoritarian state capitalism characterised by tensions between its own political and economic repertoires and a contentious relationship with the Western-dominated liberal capitalist world order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice extends the area of open ocean for new trans‐Arctic shipping routes. However, the projected routes may be too optimistic in terms of savings in shipping costs from shortened trans‐Arctic distances as they do not consider the increased sea fog frequency (SFF) over areas of the retreating sea ice. We show that delays due to sea fog can be 1–4 days, about 23%–27% along the Northwest Passage and 4%–11% along the Northern Sea Route than previous estimated. We design a route based on the projected sea‐ice extent and SFF. The new route can reduce the sailing time by 0.3–1 day by detouring the routes with lighter impacts of sea fog. More importantly the new route will lower the risk of catastrophic accidents compared to the shortest route and saves the additional costs due to unscheduled port calls. Plain Language Summary: Rapid loss of sea ice under global warming opens up the Arctic Ocean to shipping. The available trans‐Arctic shipping in the near future will strongly decrease sailing time and financial costs from the Far East to Northwest Europe. Previous designs of trans‐Arctic shipping routes mainly considered sea ice distribution, but ignored the important effect of frequent and high‐risk polar sea fog. Here, we project Arctic sea fog frequency in 21st century and evaluate its influence on trans‐Arctic shipping routes. The results highlight the necessity to redesign the routes by including sea fog effect for safer ship navigation. Key Points: About 20%–30% of Arctic shipping routes experience frequent sea fog frequency more than 20%Sea fog increases the shipping time by 23%–27% along the Northwest Passage and 4%–11% along the Northern Sea Route than previous estimationsShipping routes by minimizing the impacts of sea fog can save 0.3–1 days sailing time by detouring dense‐sea‐fog region [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the hydrocarbon reserves in the oil and gas provinces of Russia's Arctic territory, as well as specific features of the region's raw hydrocarbon potential. It has been noted that the implementation of Arctic hydrocarbon-associated projects requires that a unified transport and logistics system be created, with the Northern Sea Route being the basis. The factors affecting the volume of cargo transportation along the Arctic routes are presented. It has been established that the hydrocarbon extraction and liquefied natural gas production in the Russian Arctic zone is the most important factor in the formation of cargo flows along the Northern Sea Route. The most significant oil and gas projects that comprise the bulk of freight traffic flow along the Arctic transportation corridors have been reviewed. The ports, as the main element of the Arctic transport system, are described in terms of their state and infrastructure. It has been indicated that the construction, modernization, and operation of the Arctic ports are closely related to the creation of long-distance railway corridors, and the construction of new railway lines leading to the Arctic Basin ports can serve as a reliable basis for the growth of the Northern Sea Route's cargo potential. A conclusion has been drawn about the special significance of the Murmansk region for the formation of the Arctic transport system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Owing to a shift from the culture of compliance to the culture of benchmarking, the Polar Code process of ensuring safe operation and environmental protection in Polar waters is still ongoing. The risk and goal-based approaches embedded in significant parts of the Polar Code invite different stakeholders to participate in the development of Arctic shipping governance. The methodology used in the process, such as POLARIS, may serve as a common baseline, but its utility relies on further updates and validation. The reliability of decision-support systems depends largely on whether different stakeholders embrace the system and share their experiences to facilitate systematic updates. This article compares the approaches of the two major coastal states, Canada and Russia, to POLARIS as reflected in their coastal state systems of shipping control in the Canadian Arctic Waters and the Russian Northern Sea Route (NSR). Considering that much Arctic shipping occurs within the Canadian Arctic and the NSR, their regulatory approaches may affect POLARIS's popularity, acceptance, and, eventually, success in providing a common regulatory baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The safe and efficient navigation of ships traversing the Northern Sea Route demands accurate information regarding sea ice concentration. However, the sea ice concentration forecasts employed to support such navigation are often flawed. To address this challenge, this study advances a statistical interpolation method aimed at reducing errors arising from traditional interpolation approaches. Additionally, this study introduces an autoregressive integrated moving average model, derived from ERA5 reanalysis data, for short-term sea ice concentration forecasts along the Northern Sea Route. The validity of the model has been confirmed through comparison with ensemble experiments from the Coupling Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5, yielding reliable outcomes. The route availability is assessed on the basis of the sea ice concentration forecasts, indicating that the route will be available in the upcoming years. The proposed statistical models are also shown the capacity to facilitate effective management of Arctic shipping along the Northern Sea Route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of climate change, the Northeast Passage’s navigability is on the rise. Arctic sea fog significantly influences navigational efficiency in this region. Existing research primarily focuses on routes accumulating the lowest distance, neglecting routes with the lowest time and sea fog’s influence on route planning and navigational efficiency. This study compares the fastest and shortest routes and analyzes Arctic sea fog’s impact on the Northeast Passage from June to September (2001–2020). The results show that coastal areas are covered with less sea ice under notable monthly variations. Sea fog frequency is highest near coasts, declining with latitude. September offers optimal navigation conditions due to minimal ice and fog. When only sea ice is considered, the fastest route is approximately 4 days quicker than the shortest. The shortest route has migrated towards the higher latitude over two decades, while the fastest route remains closer to the Russian coast. Adding the impact of sea fog on the fastest route, the speed decreased by 30.2%, increasing sailing time to 45.1%. The new fastest route considering both sea ice and sea fog achieved a 13.9% increase in sailing speed and an 11.5% reduction in sailing time compared to the original fastest route.

Comprehensive geological, geophysical, geomorphological, and hydrophysical studies were carried out on the R/V Akademik Boris Petrov in the eastern Barents Sea and western Kara Sea in fall 2022. The research included multibeam echo sounding and seismic profiling, hydrological sounding, and sampling of water and sediments in the areas of oil and gas field development and along the Northern Sea Route. The expedition studied in depth the structure of the seabed relief and upper sedimentary strata at the given research sites. The distribution areas of various glacial landforms and modern geohazards were refined during the expedition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses a book that examines international cooperation in the Arctic and challenges the traditional utilitarian approach to the region. Researchers from Canada, Finland, Norway, Russia, and the United States use qualitative and quantitative methods to explore various sectors, including energy, climate change, diplomacy, security, culture, technological innovation, and education. The book presents four potential scenarios for cooperation in the Arctic and provides a nuanced understanding of present and future trends in Arctic development. It also highlights the importance of sustainable development and the need for alternative forms of cooperation in the face of geopolitical tensions and Russia's isolation. [Extracted from the article]

Correlations between the amount of precipitation in the Lena and Yana river basins in winter and the ice coverage of the Laptev and East Siberian seas near the New Siberian Islands in the spring-summer period are studied based on the GLORYS12v.1 and ERA5 global reanalyses and archival meteorological data. A statistically significant correlation (with a confidence level of at least 0.95) was established in the certain parts of the study area. The Yana basin winter precipitation was found to have the highest correlation with the ice coverage in May. The correlation between the Lena basin precipitation and the ice coverage in July is lower, but also significant. During the other months, no significant correlations were revealed. The established facts may be of practical use for long-range forecasting of ice conditions near the New Siberian Islands at the beginning of the summer navigation along the Northern Sea Route. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russian resource developers operating in remote parts of the Arctic have demonstrated over the past several years that it is feasible to extract natural resources throughout the year, and ship large quantities of raw materials with regular intervals from the Arctic to international markets; this despite very difficult operational conditions in the Arctic during both winter and spring. Several resource extraction projects are currently being implemented or planned. This study examines how the extractive companies have built up enhanced supply chain resilience and transport reliability to mitigate common Arctic risks. The companies have taken control over supply chains and adopted several precautionary and innovative infrastructure and logistics measures designed to prevent or mitigate disruption to these supply chains. Preferred logistical solutions for all of these extraction projects have developed into large package deals, where long-term production and transport of commodities, icebreaking services, and state support are all included. Western sanctions on Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine, will slow down the pace of future Russian projects in the Arctic, at least in the short to medium-term, but the sanctions are likely to increase the future significance of export terminals on the NSR, as the preferred departure points for Russian Arctic commodities on their way to selective market destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the consequences of the recently declassified Soviet decree No. 331-112 of 27 April 1965 that established, inter alia, the status of the Soviet Arctic straits along the Northern Sea Route with respect to warships' right of innocent passage. This article argues that the decree, read in conjunction with Article 5.2 of the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone and Article 8.2 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, establishes a right of innocent passage through the majority of the Russian Arctic straits, which warships can enjoy. Furthermore, this article asserts that the decree calls into question the existence of a customary regime regulating navigation through the Arctic straits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Arctic sea ice is becoming a more seasonal phenomenon as a direct result of global warming. Across the Arctic, the refreezing of the ocean surface each autumn now occurs a full month later than it did just 40 years ago. In the western Arctic (Canada Basin), the delay is related to an increase in the seasonal heat stored in surface waters; cooling to the freezing point requires more heat loss to the atmosphere in autumn. In the marginal ice zone, the cooling and freezing process is mediated by ocean mixing and by the presence of remnant sea ice, which may precondition the ocean surface for refreezing. The delay in refreezing has many impacts, including increased open ocean exposure to autumn storms, additional wave energy incident to Arctic coasts, shifts in animal migration patterns, and extension of the time window for transit by commercial ships along the Northern Sea Route. This article reviews the observed trends in the western Arctic and the processes responsible for these trends, and provides brief in situ observations from the Beaufort Sea that illustrate some of these process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the years, many publications have been published on planning ship's passage through the NSR and input and output data modeling. Results were not considered in terms of errors of modeled output data. Basic research for the years 2008 - 2020 was carried out in the study on opening and closing dates of ice-free transit corridor on the NSR and probable number of tariff zones where paid assistance of icebreakers would be required. Mathematical relationships of average values and probable errors of navigational, ecological and economic ship voyage performance were developed. For this purpose, partial derivatives of functions were used. The outcomes of the study have shown that changes of total average cost of vessel's transit voyage depends mostly on number of tariff zones where assistance of icebreakers is required. But navigation with icebreakers assistance ensures smaller standard deviation of total voyage time and thus more precise scheduling of ship's voyage timetable through the NSR. The higher probability of meeting requirements set by decision-maker when planning a long-term voyage of ship, the shorter time window for meeting these requirements. Outside the favorable time window, the navigational, ecological and economic results of voyage deteriorate very quickly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The duration of the navigation period (DNP) on the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and in some parts of it in the twenty-first century has been analyzed based on the models of the CMIP5 ensemble (Coupled Models Intercomparison project, phase 5) under the RCP 8.5 scenario using Bayesian averaging methods. According to the study results, differences in the quality of the DNP models and in DNP variations are greater in the western part of the NSR than in the eastern part. The DNP ensemble average was obtained in the range of 3–4 months in the middle of the twenty-first century and increasing to about six months by the end of the century. The ensemble average estimates of variations in DNP are generally robust for the choice of assumptions used for calculating the Bayesian weights. The joint consideration of the quality of modeled climate characteristics on all time scales (long-term average, interannual variations, and linear trend) in comparison with the satellite data makes it possible to reduce the intermodel standard deviation by two times for the western part of the NSR and one and a half times for the eastern part. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accelerated melting of sea ice and the growing influx of ships in the Arctic pose significant challenges to navigational safety and the resilient development of the Arctic routes. This study aims to explore the influence of sea ice on ship routes and speed by analyzing the spatiotemporal correlation of Sea Ice Concentration (SIC), Sea Ice Thickness (SIT), Sea Ice Volume (SIV), and Automatic Identification System (AIS) data along the Northeast Passage (NEP) in 2022. Our findings indicate that during the navigation window period (July–October), 115 ships traversed the NEP. It was observed that ships preferred navigating at speeds ranging from 6kn to 14kn when the SIC was below 10% and the SIT was less than 0.1m. Compared with cargo ships and tankers, the trajectory and speed distributions of other ships show greater differences under the influence of sea ice. Furthermore, our results suggest that the SIV, compared to the SIC and SIT, could better reflect the influence of sea ice on ship navigation. These insights are crucial for developing management strategies in Arctic routes. • Effects of sea ice on ship routes and speed in the Northeast Passage were studied. • Spatial-temporal distribution of sea ice patterns was revealed. • The trajectories and speed distributions of ships over time were analyzed. • Sea Ice Volume is a suitable indicator describing sea ice influence on ship navigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Arctic passages has mainly focused on navigation policies, sea ice extraction models, and navigation of Arctic sea routes. It is difficult to quantitatively address the specific problems encountered by ships sailing in the Arctic in real time through traditional manual approaches. Additionally, existing sea ice information service systems focus on data sharing and lack online calculation and analysis capabilities, making it difficult for decision-makers to derive valuable information from massive amounts of data. To improve navigation analysis through intelligent information service, we built an advanced Ship Navigation Information Service System (SNISS) using a 3D geographic information system (GIS) based on big Earth data. The SNISS includes two main features: (1) heuristic algorithms were developed to identify the optimal navigation route of the Arctic Northeast Passage (NEP) from a macroscale perspective for the past 10 years to the next 100 years, and (2) for key sea straits along the NEP, online local sea-ice images can be retrieved to provide a fully automatic sea ice data processing workflow, solving the problems of poor flexibility and low availability of real sea ice remote sensing data extraction. This work can potentially enhance the safety of shipping navigation along the NEP.

The urban development of areas in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation is a relevant and important task to be tackled by contemporary urban planners. This focus is largely explained by the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) and its port cities. Last but not least, to develop these cities means to ensure a comfortable living environment for local residents and visiting specialists. However, given the harsh climate in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, this task requires a more elaborate approach. Current building techniques, designed for flatlands with relatively comfortable climates, cannot be applied to this territory without degrading the quality of the living environment. Environmental comfort is influenced by many factors, and one of them is the aeration regime. This study is aimed at researching the aeration regime of built-up areas on the sloping lands of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation and identifying the features of its formation. The object of this study is a residential development on the sloping lands of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The subject of the study is the external aeration regime at the level of 1.2 m from the ground level of the residential development on the sloping lands of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. These parameters were explored, and the aeration regime was assessed using such advanced software packages as QG for the GIS analysis of the area and ANSYS Fluent for the mathematical modeling of the aeration regime. The results of the research are presented in the form of graphs, dependency tables, and petal diagrams visually demonstrating the distribution of discomfortable zones for different morphotypes of development on various slopes most widely spread in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The theoretical research was pilot-tested in the existing residential development area in Murmansk. The results of the study are usable in practice if respective land use documents are drafted for residential areas of settlements in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented melting of Arctic ice provides new opportunities for shipping by decreasing the distance for commercial traffic between Asia and Europe by up to 40%. However, its development is associated with inevitable problems caused by the vulnerability of polar ecosystems. As research methods, we have chosen system and comparative analyses of open sources; national development strategies of the Russian Federation (primarily), China, Northern Europe, and the USA (partially); and scientific articles from the Scopus and Elibrary databases. As a result, we have identified the reasons for possible risk situations for the Arctic region's sustainable development: mining on the shelf, oil and oil product spills during the transportation of goods and fishing activities, etc. Black carbon (soot) emitted from using marine diesel fuel is the main atmospheric air pollutant. In addition, actively developing infrastructure (ports and new industrial zones) also has a negative anthropogenic impact on the environment. Within the framework of an ecosystem approach, we studied ways to prevent risky situations when planning logistics routes using the Northern Sea Route. We concluded about the need to expand the icebreaker fleet. We proposed a conceptual model of the risk management system based on the monitoring of the key indicators' system. We identified possible types of risks according to the place of their occurrence and according to the stages of the life cycle of such systems. Furthermore, we provided the steps of the risk management system and an example of the application of a "bow-tie" diagram—a qualitative method for assessing the risk of "collision". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human activities in the Arctic regions have been increasing in recent years due to the impacts of climate change, such as Arctic Sea ice decline. For example, there has been an increase in Arctic shipping routes. A robust navigation system with a high positioning accuracy is required when traversing the extremely challenging Arctic environment to ensure the safety of human activities. However, the high–precision GNSS navigation and the positioning method, e.g., real–time kinematic (RTK), is not available in the polar regions due to the accessibility issues of the required infrastructures. On the other hand, the International GNSS Service (IGS) enables real–time applications; additionally, quick and convenient satellite communication systems are also available. This offers the possibility of real–time precise point positioning (RT–PPP) with multi–GNSS for high-precision navigation in the Arctic. In our paper, we analyzed the performance of multi–GNSS RT–PPP in the Arctic Northeast Passage (NEP), highlighting the following contributions: First, a GNSS device is installed on the M/V TIANHUI, which passed through the NEP from 10 September to 20 September 2019; Second, we quantitatively evaluated the collected GNSS signals in terms of the maximum satellite elevations, number of visible satellites (NSAT), position dilution of precision (PDOP) values, signal–to–noise ratio (SNR), and multipath errors. Third, we evaluated the accuracy of the CLK93 real–time products compared with the Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ) final products GBM. Finally, we carried out experiments for both single– (SF) and dual–frequency (DF) RT–PPP in the NEP during the 11–day testing period. Our experimental results show that meter–level positioning accuracy can be achieved with SF RT–PPP, while the DF RT–PPP model reaches sub–decimeter values and even centimeter–level accuracy. In addition, using the multi–GNSS method, we showed that the average RMS values of DF RT–PPP in the horizontal and vertical directions are 0.080 m and 0.057 m, respectively, demonstrating an improvement of approximately 70% over single–GPS solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil pollution is today one of the main factors of the technogenic impact on the environment. Emergency oil spills are the main source of the oil pollution. The causes, scales, and environmental consequences of emergency spills are considered. The advantages and drawbacks of methods for eliminating the spills of crude oil and petroleum products on the surface of water bodies are discussed. The features of the sorption method for oil collection from the water surface, which is the most widely used method, are described in detail. Requirements to petroleum sorbents are analyzed, and classes of the sorbents are described. Synthetic polymer sorbents have a set of advantages over other types of oil-absorbing materials. Fighting emergency oil spills should include the activity aimed at their prevention. This is particularly topical for Russia, which starts active operation of the Northern Sea Route and of shelf deposits of fossil fuels in seas of the Russian Arctic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Russia's Artic strategy and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion. Topics discussed include that Russia has set priorities of developing oil and gas resources to improve living conditions to attract qualified labour, it also focuses on rebuilding a military presence to protect the country's Arctic territory and maritime space, and discussed that expansion of the Northern Sea Route will facilitate commercial activity along Russia's coastline.

Oil and gas extraction remains a cornerstone in Russia's development plans for the Arctic Zone, even as there are considerable constraints on new projects. But what does it take to implement hydrocarbon-based regional development in a rent-based political economy? This paper employs a case study of interaction between state and business actors over hydrocarbon-based cargo traffic for the Northern Sea Route to show how Russia's elites respond to constraints on Arctic development. It is argued that aims of development and of national interest protection enable the state to enlist companies when implementing high-level priorities. This happens when state actors mobilise major companies, using their privileges in the limited access order context as incentives. This route to implementation of regional developmental aims reinforces Russia's current oil and gas-based development model as a future model for the Arctic Zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petroleum and gas are important strategic resources, among which natural gas as a clean energy resource has always been and still will be the most important energy resource in the foreseeable future, even after cutting global carbon emissions and China peaking carbon emissions. Diversification of energy import channels has been one of the effective measures to alleviate the energy shortage in China. The Arctic region is rich in oil and gas resources and is dominated by natural gas. The vast majority of oil and gas resources found in the Arctic are in Russia, but now more than 80 percent of the Russian natural gas production is already in their oil and gas fields in north Arctic Circle. In 2012, China and Russia officially launched a joint project to develop liquefied natural gas, marking significant progress in China's participation in the development and utilzation of Arctic oil and gas resources, and in fact started the cooperative process to integrate the China-led "Construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt"and the later Russia-led "Construction of Eurasian Economic Union".The total amount of oil and gas resources discovered in the Arctic region is 328.94 billion barrels of oil equivalent, of which oil equivalent amounts to 60.54 billion barrels (8.41 billion tons), only accounting for 2.5% of the world's discovered oil resources; Natural gas amounts to 41.4 trillion cubic meters (268.3 billion barrels, 37.26 billion tons of oil equivalent), and accounts for 15.5 percent of the world's discovered natural gas resources. The vast majority of oil and gas resources discovered in the Arctic region are in Russia, which has a total of 290.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent (40.35 billion tons), accounting for 88.3%, of which natural gas amounts to about 39.47 trillion cubic meters, about 255.79 billion barrels (35.53 billion tons) of oil equivalent, constituting more than 95% of the total discovered natural gas resources in the Arctic. The Arctic also has considerable undiscovered oil and gas resources, accounting for about 15% of the world's total undiscovered amount; The undiscovered natural gas, which mainly distributes in Russia, accounts for 30% of the world's total undiscovered amount. In the context of global warming and crackdown by the US-led Western world, Russia is bound to increase extraction and development of Arctic oil and gas, especially natural gas, and transport them through the Arctic Shipping Lanes to China and other consumer countries, in order to secure its natural gas export revenue and fiscal revenue. This paper takes as the basis the summary of the distribution characteristics of oil and gas resources in the Arctic, oil and gas resources and the Arctic strategy of Russia, and the traffic capacity of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), and reviews the launch and development of the liquefied natural gas joint project as well as the international power politics environment. Moreover, this paper briefly introduces the process of China's successful intervention in the Arctic oil and gas resources project, and puts forward the strategic measures for China to utilize Arctic oil and gas resources.