Arctic Shipping and Global Warming
I am attending Commonwealth North's current study group about global warming and the Arctic Circle countries (the U.S/Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia). This week's presentation was by Lawson W. Brigham(check him out; and people like this live in Alaska, which is sometimes called the "backwater of the world"!), Alaska Office Director of the U. S. Arctic Research Commission. He discussed the Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2005-2008.
The bulleted items below are highlights from my notes.
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA)--- from key finding #6:
- "Reduced sea ice is very likely to increase marine transport and access to resources."
- "Increased economic activity together with the current retreat of Arctic sea ice presents several plausible futures for the Arctic's regional seas, The Northern Sea Route, The Northwest Passage, and the central Arctic Ocean."
Previous Traffic
- Between 1977 and 2005 there were 61 ship transits to the North Pole; 17 ship transits to the North Pole between 2004 and 2005
- Seven trans-Arctic transits across the central Arctic ocean have taken place--1991, 1994, 1996, 2005
Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment 2005-2008
- Because of decreasing Arctic sea ice and increasing ice-free areas in the Arctic Coastal area and expanding global economic demands and natural resources, there will be an increase in Arctic shipping traffic with concerns about emergency preparedness, response and prevention.
- Among other things, the study is determining how many ships ply the Arctic seas (not as easy to determine as one might think). Ships include fishing, whaling, ice breakers, scientific ships, cargo ships, drilling, coast Guard patrol, and cruise ships (around Greenland). They do not count naval vessels.
- The route is open and ice free for 15 days during the summer. Yet it still requires an ice breaker.
- It is difficult geography to navigate due to many very shallow areas
Importance to Commerce
- Shorter route from Hamburg to Yokohama--7,000 miles vs 11,000 through the Suez and 12,000 through the Panama Canal and 14,500 around the Cape of Good Hope
- This shipping route works best for natural resources. Stock pile them then transport them during the summer.
- Alaska's Red Dog Mine (the largest zinc mine in the world) initiates 250 barge transits from Kivalina to the outside world during the 100 day shipping season.
This PDF is a summary of what he shared with us plus some well-detailed graphics and some great pictures. The graphics and pictures are will worth the time to click on the link and look at it.
5:39:42 PM 
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