By 2050 the Arctic ice sheet will be so thin that ships could be sailing across the North Pole.

Ships could be sailing right across the North Pole by the middle of the century, US experts predict.By around 2050 the Arctic ice sheet will be thin enough for icebreakers to carve a straight path between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, it is claimed.‘Nobody's ever talked about shipping over the top of the North Pole,’ said lead researcher Professor Laurence Smith, from the University of California in Los Angeles. ‘This is an entirely unexpected possibility.’Meanwhile, cargo ships and tankers could routinely be making voyages through Arctic Ocean channels that are currently impossible for them to navigate on their own.

The scientists studied seven well-established climate simulations for the years 2040 to 2059 to estimate the future thickness of sea ice in the Arctic.They then used a computer programme to look for potential new shipping routes opening up in September, the Arctic's most navigable month of the year.By mid-century most common open-water ships will be able, without the help of icebreakers, to cross the Northern Sea Route hugging the coast of Russia, the forecast shows. The route is about 40 per cent shorter than plotting a course through the Suez Canal.Sailing directly over the North Pole would provide a passage for icebreakers between the world's two greatest oceans which is 20 per cent shorter than the Northern Sea Route.