Global warming has caused the Arctic glaciers to melt rapidly. According to experts from the United Nations and the Canadian government (/GB/other8682/6927236.html), the temperature near the North Pole is rising twice as fast as that in other parts of the earth. By 2050, ships can sail in northern Canada in summer. The famous "Northwest Passage", which spans the Canadian Arctic Islands and connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, will be open for several months every year and become a part of international shipping routes (Figure 1-3).
Figure 1-3 Schematic Diagram of Arctic Waterway
According to the news from the European Space Agency, according to the latest satellite observation images, the "Northwest Passage" has been thawed due to the melting of the Arctic ice, and it is expected to be navigable in the future. By then, ships from Europe to Asia will not have to pass through the narrow and crowded Panama Canal, but can directly cross the Bering Strait to reach Japan and other parts of Asia through the "Northwest Passage", which can shorten the distance by about 5000km. Take the route from London to Tokyo as an example. It is 2.3× 104km through the Panama Canal, but it is only 1.6× 104km if it crosses the Arctic Ocean.
Many countries have expressed their sovereignty over this waterway. The main countries involved are Canada and the United States. As early as 1973, Canada ignored the frozen sea route, claimed that this waterway was its "domestic route" and insisted on its sovereignty. However, the United States and Russia believe that the "Northwest Passage" should be an international maritime passage and should be opened to all countries at an appropriate time.
The other passage, from the Bering Strait to the Atlantic Ocean via the Chukchi Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the Kara Sea and the Barents Sea, is called the "Northeast Passage" and mainly passes through Russia, Norway and other countries (see Figure 1-3).
Second, Arctic exploration.
The Arctic is one of the most sparsely populated areas in the world. In the Arctic regions of Greenland and Alaska, people from East Asia began to migrate 4000 years ago. For thousands of years, Inuit (formerly Eskimos) have lived here for generations.
For nearly a thousand years, human exploration of the Arctic has never stopped.
In 870 AD, an ancient Scandinavian nobleman named Ota first bypassed the northernmost cape of Scandinavia, bypassed kola peninsula and entered the White Sea. At about the same time as Ota, a Norwegian named Loki was sent to the northwest to find a new continent and discovered Iceland. After the Norwegian pirate Eric discovered Greenland, a large number of immigrants appeared in the southern coastal area of Greenland.
Kyle Poirot's trip to China prompted westerners to start looking for the shortest route to China-the Maritime Silk Road. At that time, Europeans thought that as long as they sailed north from the Norwegian Sea and then sailed east or west along the coast, they would surely reach China in the east.
1500, Portuguese brother Courtrell sailed north to Newfoundland along the west coast of Europe.
From 1594, the Dutchman Barents started his three arctic blue. 1596, he not only discovered the island of Spitsbergen, but also reached 79 49' north latitude, setting a new record for human beings to move northward and becoming the first Europeans to spend the winter in the Arctic.
16 10, an Englishman Hudson, who was employed by a commercial exploration company, launched an attack on the northwest channel in his Discovery, and they arrived at the bay named after Hudson.
16 16 In the spring, Eight Commanders Xiao Discovery went north again. This is the fifth time/kloc-0 that the ship entered the unknown waters in the northwest and found the open Baffin Bay.
1725 65438+ 10, Peter the Great appointed Bering, a Danish, as the captain of the Russian expedition, and completed the arduous task of "determining whether Asia and America are connected". Bering and his 25 members left St. Petersburg and crossed Russia from west to east. After a journey of more than 8,000 kilometers, they reached the Pacific coast. From there, they boarded a ship and sailed northwest. In the following 17 years, Bering completed two extremely difficult explorations. On his first voyage, he drew a map of kamchatka peninsula and successfully passed the waterway between Alaska and Siberia, which is now the Bering Strait. On his second voyage from 1739, he reached the west coast of North America and discovered the Aleutian Islands and Alaska.
18 19, Captain Parry, an Englishman, insisted on rushing into the frozen Arctic waters in winter and almost opened the "Northwest Passage". They only reached 82 45' north latitude.
1831June, the famous British explorers john ross and james ross discovered the north magnetic pole.
1845 In May, the Admiralty of the British Empire sent Sir sir john franklin, an experienced Arctic explorer, to start his third voyage to the Arctic.
1878, the Finnish Swedish navy captain Louis Pan Langdell led a 30-member international expedition, which was composed of Russian, Danish and Italian naval personnel. Four exploration ships, including Vega, first opened the northeast route.
1905, Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer who later conquered the Antarctic, successfully opened the northwest route. Their success brought a successful conclusion to the efforts to find the way to the East in the Arctic.
1909, two Americans, Robert Pieri and Frederick, both claimed that they had arrived at the North Pole first, but neither of them could produce strong evidence. Since then, various studies have proved that Pieri has reached at least a few kilometers away from the pole.
1937, two Soviets landed in the North Pole for the first time by plane. The process from the opening of the Arctic route to surpassing the North Pole can be called the Arctic exploration period.
1957 ~ 1958, the large-scale scientific activities of the International Geophysical Year marked the end of the Arctic exploration period and the beginning of the scientific investigation period. However, science and exploration are always inseparable for the unknown areas of the earth. What's more, the science and exploration of the Arctic are closely related to politics, military affairs and economy, so governments, non-governmental organizations or individuals in modern countries have never stopped paying attention to the Arctic.
1958, the nuclear-powered submarine of the United States crossed the North Pole under the ice for the first time. 1959, the American submarine Nautilus broke the ice for the first time and surfaced in the Arctic. 1968, an American explorer reached the North Pole by snowmobile for the first time since Piri. 1969, an English expedition set out from Barrow by dog sled and also reached the North Pole. 197 1 year, Italian Morizzi reached the North Pole along the route of Piri. 1977, the Soviet icebreaker Arctic broke the ice and waves for the first time and sailed for the North Pole.
1979, a Soviet expedition reached the North Pole from the ice for the first time by skiing.
1April 8, 993, Ms. Li Leshi, representing the Chinese nation with a population of 1/5, arrived at the North Pole by plane for the first time, facing the strong wind and waving a five-star red flag in the wind.
By 20 10, China * * * had made four arctic expeditions.
Third, scientific research stations in the Arctic.
Station observation plays an important role in Arctic Ocean exploration. There are hundreds of land-based observation stations along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, and there are ice floes on the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic land-based observatory refers to a multi-disciplinary observatory or a multi-disciplinary comprehensive observatory established in the Arctic Ocean and the coastal areas of sub-Arctic. Almost all countries around the Arctic have such terrestrial base stations.
During the first International Polar Year from 1882 to 1883, countries established 14 land-based observation stations. Among them, 12 stations are arranged at equal intervals in the Arctic Circle, and two stations are arranged in the southern hemisphere for data comparison. The expedition team came from 1 1 countries. In addition to the 14 main expedition, there are several auxiliary expeditions along the Labrador coast and northern Norway. In addition, 35 observation stations have been built in low latitudes, making the polar observation plan more global.
During World War II, the German Navy established and arranged its own weather stations and weather ships in key areas from Labrador to Franz Josef Islands in order to obtain meteorological data in Iceland, Greenland and the northwest Atlantic.
During the International Geophysical Year 1957 ~ 1958, 54 new Arctic land-based observatories were built in countries around the Arctic. These land base stations are distributed along the coast and islands of the Arctic Ocean, and generally form a ring around the North Pole. The observation and research projects of these stations mainly include: Arctic natural environment, climatology, geomorphology, geology, coastal soil and microbial ecology, biology and ecology.
Since 1960s, the number of land base stations around the Arctic has been increasing, such as weather stations, biological stations and glacier field observation stations. By 1968, there are 75 meteorological observation stations in Iceland alone. Arctic biological research stations established by countries along the Arctic Ocean constitute a network of biological stations around the Arctic.
1990, eight countries around the arctic established the international arctic science Committee, 1996, and established the intergovernmental arctic Council. Almost all developed countries in the northern hemisphere have carried out Arctic research activities. China joined the International Arctic Science Committee on 1996, becoming the16th member.
China's expedition to the North Pole was later than his expedition to the South Pole. 65438-0995, under the sponsorship of enterprises and under the auspices of China Association for Science and Technology, China Academy of Sciences organized and implemented the first folk Arctic scientific expedition. 1 999 From July/KLOC-0 to September 9, the Polar Investigation Office of the State Oceanic Administration organized and implemented China's first scientific expedition to the Arctic. From July 15 to September 26, 2003, the Polar Expedition Office of the State Oceanic Administration organized and implemented China's second scientific expedition to the Arctic.
Figure 1-4 Location Map of Arctic Yellow River Station
The Arctic Yellow River Station is the first Arctic scientific research station in China, which was completed on July 28th, 2004. Arctic Yellow River Station is located at 78 55' north latitude and1156' east longitude (Figure 1-4). It is located in the New Olsen region of Spitsbergen Islands, Norway, and it is the third polar scientific research station in China after Great Wall Station and Zhongshan Station in Antarctica. China has also become the eighth country to establish an Arctic scientific research station in Spitsbergen.
Arctic scientific investigation is mainly aimed at this special area of the Arctic, involving the relevant laws of neighboring countries and the international law prevailing in international law. At present, no country in the world has signed any special treaty on the Arctic issue, and all countries can only deal with issues and disputes such as resource development, continental shelf and high seas utilization near the Arctic in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. In addition, the most important relevant law is the Treaty of Spitsbergen (Svalbard Treaty for short). The Treaty of Spitsbergen, which came into effect on August 1925, stipulates that both parties can enjoy the right to fish and hunt in the area of Spitsbergen and its territorial waters, the right to conduct marine, industrial, mining and commercial activities, and the right to conduct scientific research activities under certain conditions.
Therefore, although all the land in the Arctic belongs to eight countries around the Arctic, China, as a signatory to the Treaty of Spitsbergen Islands, has the corresponding rights stipulated in the Treaty, including scientific investigation, which gives China a legal basis for establishing scientific investigation stations in this area. New Olson is a hot spot in Arctic scientific research. At present, there are scientific research stations in Norway, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and South Korea adjacent to the Yellow River Station.