Full Title: Icebreakers: Essential Assets for a Changing Arctic
Author(s): Shiva Polefka
Publisher(s): Center for American Progress
Publication Date: March 1, 2015
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
For most of U.S. history, the Arctic Ocean’s frozen surface and hostile climate excluded most human activity from the region, outside of intrepid explorers trekking over the ice and stealthy naval submarines prowling beneath it. This extensive, year-round shield of ice protected the ocean and its ecosystems from commercial extraction of the region’s living and mineral resources, and precluded any need for regular U.S. Coast Guard patrols beyond scientific research.