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The great race to the Arctic is on! But the goal isn't to plant a flag on top of the frozen North Pole. American Robert Peary led a daring expedition that did that in 1909. The rush is on to find ways to tap the valuable natural resources lying deep below the Arctic sea floor. For centuries, people have ventured into the icy northern territory. First, it was settled by native people who fished and hunted there. Later, European adventurers searched for a Northwest Passage, or northern sea route, to Asia. They encountered a harsh and unforgiving environment. But they also found riches: fish, fur seals and whales.

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This summer, five nations staked their claims to Arctic wealth. Just last month, Norwegians celebrated the first production of natural gas from a well drilled 300 miles north of the Arctic Circle in the Barents Sea. The well is expected to deliver $1.4*billion worth of natural gas each year for the next 25 years. Denmark governs Greenland, the world's largest island. The Danes sent scientists on an expedition to map the Arctic sea floor near Greenland. A precise map will help show who has rights to drill for Arctic oil and gas. Canada announced plans to build a naval base above the Arctic Circle, a sign that Canadians plan to keep an eye on the part of the Arctic that they claim. The U.S. Coast Guard sent a ship to cruise waters north of Alaska, too. But what really grabbed the world's attention was the expedition of two Russian minisubmarines. They planted a Russian flag on the sea floor at the North Pole, more than two miles below the spot where Peary stood on the ice nearly 100 years ago. "I don't know why some people got nervous about (us) placing the flag there," Anatoli Sagalevich, one of the Russian commanders, told TIME. "The Americans placed their flag on the moon, and it doesn't mean the moon became theirs."

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In many ways, the new race is like the old one. Arctic explorers still seek an easy shipping shortcut through polar waters, and nations still seek riches. Only now, instead of whales and fur, countries are after gold, diamonds, uranium and, most importantly, oil and natural gas. What has changed since Peary's time is the climate. Global warming is making the Arctic easier to explore. Burning fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal, releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That creates a heat-trapping blanket around the Earth, which melts ice. Recent satellite images show that summer sea ice in the Arctic has shrunk to a record low (see "An Ice-Free Passage?"). That is bad news for polar bears. Biologists fear that polar bears may disappear entirely from some areas within a few decades. The complex food chain that links fish, seals and polar bears is being disrupted. And that, in turn, disrupts the lives of native people. Melting ice may make the dream of a northern sea route come true. If enough of the polar ice cap melts, a shipping lane may be practical, though only in summer. The long and dark Arctic winter is likely to remain forbidding to ships. The race for Arctic riches will go on for many years. It will be dangerous and expensive. Many people worry that this unspoiled wilderness could be harmed. "The Arctic is already under stress," climate scientist James Wang, of the conservation group Environmental Defense, told TFK. "Rather than having powerful nations rush to grab resources, there should be careful planning and international cooperation."

//David Bjerklie//
 * //[|Time for Kids]//**