The Arctic Frontier
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By Lesley Stahl
Lesley Stahl goes to the top of the world where the next battle over oil and mineral resources is shaping up as the region becomes more accessible due to climate chang
The sea ice over the Arctic is melting and shrinking so fast we will see in our lifetime something that hasn't happened, it's believed, since the end of the last Ice Age: the opening of an ocean, the Arctic Ocean, and with that access to trade routes and trillions of dollars worth of oil and natural gas, almost as much as the entire U.S. economy.
But, as we reported last fall, this isn't a story about climate change; this is a story about the competition for those riches. The Russians, for instance, have already amassed a major military presence in the region.
It's also about pioneers -- U.S. scientists and naval personnel -- learning to tough it out in the harshness of this still ice-covered frontier. We discovered just how harsh. On a trip to the Arctic.
The Arctic Ocean sits on top of the globe, encircled by Russia, which encompasses about half of its coastline: Norway, Greenland, Canada.