The Arctic may hold untold mineral wealth and allow a shorter shipping route between Europe and Northeast Asia. However, before that can be explored, most of the region's ice pack must melt and the legal status of the Arctic Ocean must be formalized. According to the most aggressive global warming estimates, the ice will prevent any meaningful development for at least twenty years, and it may take nearly as long for competing territorial claims to be ironed out by the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
