Northwest Passage Open
Monday, 17. September 2007, 06:54:28
The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos from September 2007 taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978.
The legendary Northwest Passage was first navigated with great difficulty and using the relatively small ship Gjöa by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, and it took him 3 years from 1903 to 1906. Since then 110 ships have done it, but always icebreakers or ships with a reinforced bow. This could now change.
Via the Northwest Passage the distance London-Tokyo is about 16.000 km, via the Suez Canal it is 21.000 km and via the Panama Canal 23.000 km.
Leif Toudal Pedersen, of the Danish National Space Centre, said that Arctic ice has shrunk to 3 million square kilometres. The previous low was nearly 4 million square km, in 2005.
Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States are in a race to secure rights to the Arctic. A US study has suggested as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden in the area.
Canada claims that the Northwest Passage runs through its territorial waters (which would give it toll rights), while US and Europe say that it is an international maritime route. Canada will build its first Arctic deep-sea port to bolster its disputed claims to the Northwest Passage
I am one of those who fear that increased maritime traffic and efforts to tap natural resources in the area could one day lead to oil spills and harm regional wildlife.
See also my post on the Lomonosov Ridge.
The legendary Northwest Passage was first navigated with great difficulty and using the relatively small ship Gjöa by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, and it took him 3 years from 1903 to 1906. Since then 110 ships have done it, but always icebreakers or ships with a reinforced bow. This could now change.
Via the Northwest Passage the distance London-Tokyo is about 16.000 km, via the Suez Canal it is 21.000 km and via the Panama Canal 23.000 km.
Leif Toudal Pedersen, of the Danish National Space Centre, said that Arctic ice has shrunk to 3 million square kilometres. The previous low was nearly 4 million square km, in 2005.
Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States are in a race to secure rights to the Arctic. A US study has suggested as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden in the area.
Canada claims that the Northwest Passage runs through its territorial waters (which would give it toll rights), while US and Europe say that it is an international maritime route. Canada will build its first Arctic deep-sea port to bolster its disputed claims to the Northwest Passage
I am one of those who fear that increased maritime traffic and efforts to tap natural resources in the area could one day lead to oil spills and harm regional wildlife.
See also my post on the Lomonosov Ridge.
- http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Arctic_ice_loss_Northwest_Passage_now_open_says_space_agency_999.html
- http://www.physorg.com/news109127254.html
- http://www.livescience.com/environment/070914_northwest_passage.html
- http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1067384/arctic_ice_melt_opens_northwest_passage/index.html?source=r_science
You must be logged in to write a comment. if you're not a registered member, please 
