North West Passage - The Last Frontier Opens for Business

European explorers spent centuries searching for a passage through the ice at the top of the world. The Northwest Passage, a shortcut to Asia, proved elusive until about 100 years ago, when Norway's Roald Amundsen completed a three-year journey.

These days, thanks to global warming and a receding ice cover, the voyage is easier to complete with the opening of the North West Passage due to melting ice sheets. Shipping time between London and Tokyo could be cut by a fortnight for at least part of the year.

The Northwest Passage is one of the most fabled sea routes in the world - a short cut from Europe to Asia through the Canadian Arctic.

Recent years have seen a marked shrinkage in its ice cover, but this year it was extreme, making passage fully navigable for the first time since monitoring began in 1978.

The ice-covered area has dropped to just around 3 million (m) sq km (1.2m sq miles), about 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006.

There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100, 000 sq km (38,600 sq miles) per year on average, so a drop of 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) in just one year is extreme.

The Northeast Passage through the Russian Arctic has also seen its ice cover shrink and it currently "remains only partially blocked.

All we have to work out now is who is in charge, which is a real issue.