Climate change is rapidly transforming the Arctic and the US Navy is falling behind as international powers jockey for power over vast oil resources, suggested a US study released on Thursday.
The report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) pointed to areas where the United States needs to bolster its forces as warming temperatures break up polar ice, raise sea levels, and potentially cause more international chaos.
A sea-level rise in the Arctic over the next two decades is "highly certain to occur and highly certain to come with economic costs" in a region thought to hold more than one-fifth of the world's untapped hydrocarbons, it said.
The past three years have seen a surge of global interest in the Arctic, on a level not seen since the Cold War, but United States has not pursued this with the same vigor as Russia, Norway, Denmark and other countries.
"The retreat of Arctic sea ice in summer is fundamentally altering the naval forces' mission by allowing increasing access to the harsh and highly variable Arctic environment," said the study by the NAS's National Research Council (NRC).
"Surface and air operations have not been a priority for the Navy in the high latitudes for almost 25 years; so, today's naval forces lack experience and procedures for the challenges of these northern environments," it said.
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