The Northern Sea Route as a Shipping Lane: Expectations and Reality

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.