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.

Sought by explorers for centuries as a possible trade route, it was first navigated by Roald Amundsen in 1903-6.

How about some other voyages:

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.

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.

I guess no one was monitoring it in 1903-06,1940, 1957, and 1977. Too bad. They might have seen some interesting things about.

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 Power and Control and at The Astute Bloggers

posted by Simon on 09.16.07 at 06:13 AM





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Comments

I think there's a form of Young Earth Creationism, or perhaps Last Thursdayism, at work here.
For purposes of alarmist reporting, the universe was created on January 20, 2001. Nothing happened before that - not the first World Trade Center bombing, not navigation of the Northwest Passage, not the Dust Bowl. Everything bad that's happened in the short life of the universe is therefore unprecedented.
And - the universe not having existed prior to his taking office - Bush is by definition the worst President ever.

Eric Wilner   ·  September 16, 2007 11:39 AM

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