Arctic Exploration and the Future of the Arctic Ocean - Essay Example

Hayes’ expedition to North Pole started in 1860 with the objective of getting to the open polar sea and steering a course to the North Pole. He wanted to find the sea that rumored to be ice-free because it would ease his way to North Pole. Hayes had plans of crossing Smith Sound from Greenland but he was defeated due to the bad terrain and diminished supplies. Afterwards, they knew that there was no such ice-free sea as rumored. Hayes’ team progressed well and survived through the conditions such that no one became a victim like the past expedition.

What kept Hayes going is the hope of finding the ice-free sea. This would help him sail through with the boat he brought (Berton 2012). For years, many nations such as the U.S, Canada, Norway, Russia, and Denmark have interest in the riches and the potentials of the Arctic Ocean. Some of these nations have parts of the Arctic Ocean as their territory because the area has vast oil deposits and lucrative business activities like trade routes. These opportunities have made the nations to vie for arctic dominance thus causing disputes between these countries (Shah, 2010).

Using compass for direction in the arctic can be useless because of magnetic inclination. This is the difference between the geographic north and magnetic north poles. The North Pole is all one side of a magnet so when you have a compass, it will be repelled and attracted at the same time. The compass will end up pointing towards a random position. This will be challenging for anyone trying to find his or her way through because the compass will identify north as a different direction.ReferenceBerton, Pierre. (2012). The Arctic grail: The quest for the North West Passage and the North Pole, 1818-1909.

Toronto: Anchor Canada.Shah, Anup. (2010). Dominance and the Change in Arctic. Global Issues. Retrieved from http://www.globalissues.org/article/740/dominance-in-the-arctic