The Northwest Passage
The melting of Arctic sea ice has caused the North West Passage to open up again.
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of North America via the waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages.How about some other voyages:
Sought by explorers for centuries as a possible trade route, it was first navigated by Roald Amundsen in 1903-6.
1940 Canadian RCMP officer Henry Larsen
1957 the United States Coast Guard cutter Storis
1977 sailor Willy de Roos
2005 47 ft aluminium sailboat, Northabout, built and captained by Jarlath Cunnane
I blame it on man made global warming. Except for 1903-06, 1940, 1957, and 1977.
Fortunately The BBC knows the real truth.
The most direct shipping route from Europe to Asia is fully clear of ice for the first time since records began, the European Space Agency (Esa) says.I guess no one was monitoring it in 1903-06,1940, 1957, and 1977. Too bad. They might have seen some interesting things about.
Historically, the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has been ice-bound through the year.
But the agency says ice cover has been steadily shrinking, and this summer's reduction has made the route navigable.
The findings, based on satellite images, raised concerns about the speed of global warming.
The Northwest Passage is one of the most fabled sea routes in the world - a short cut from Europe to Asia through the Canadian Arctic.
Recent years have seen a marked shrinkage in its ice cover, but this year it was extreme, Esa says.
It says this made the passage "fully navigable" for the first time since monitoring began in 1978.
Update: 16 Sept 007 1321z
Evidently this is not the first time in the 21st Centiry the BBC has found an opening.
Cross Posted at Classical Values and at The Astute Bloggers
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4 comments:
This will no doubt cause the shriek level in the religion of warmists to rise to a new height.
I can't wait to hear Gore preach on this one.
It would save lots of energy and money if we could ship through the Northwest Passage. Meanwhile the Antarctic winter is leading to record ice buildups in the south. Since these are an the continent rather than the sea I hope that it does not result in sea levels falling or all the plans we have made to deal with rising sea levels will be scuppered.
I believe in global warming, as I've read the proof that the Sun warm the Earth 2 billion units for every ONE UNIT of CO2 humans produce.
That's quite some global warming, too, since we humans cannot control the sunshine and its-
What? Sit down and shut up? I'm OUT of the Church? Waitaminnit!
The Artic is warming. The passage is said to be completely open and likely to be usable henceforth.
The situation in the South is unclear but it certainly isn't changing - either way - as fast.
My bet is is not CO2 but upon the ash particles from burning coal. They settle on the snow and ice of the North and increase the capture of sunlight.
There are some solid studies supporting particles.
Almost all coal burning is done in the northern hemisphere. And at an increasing rate. Because of air patterns the ash remains in the North until it falls on land or into the sea.
The good news about ash is that the situation can easily be corrected. Fixing CO2 probably can't be done within 50 years.
But nothing beats facts. Keep an open mind. We will see.
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