Arctic weather routing: a review of ship performance models and ice routing algorithms

Abstract

With the accelerated melting of the Arctic sea ice, the opening of the Northeast Passage of the Arctic is becoming increasingly accessible. Nevertheless, the constantly changing natural environment of the Arctic and its multiple impacts on vessel navigation performance have resulted in a lack of confidence in the outcomes of polar automated route planning. This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of two distinct models by examining the advancements in two essential components of e-navigation, namely ship performance methods and ice routing algorithms. We also seek to provide an outlook on the future directions of model development. Furthermore, through comparative experiments, we have examined the existing research on ice path planning and pointed out promising research directions in future Arctic Weather Routing research.