6:07 AM
crkota
The Northwest Passage was for centuries the Holy Grail of seaborne exploration, with navigators such as Cabot, Bering and Vancouver trying to open up an Arctic sea lane from Europe to Asia.
Now with global warming, melting sea ice has opened that sea lane, and it has started a round of international wrangling over new trading routes.
The European Space Agency says Arctic sea ice melted to a record low this summer - making the Northwest Passage fully navigable for the first time since monitoring began 30 years ago.
The director of the Swedish Space Agency, Per Tergen, says this will halve the distance of shipping routes between Europe and Asia.
"It's clear that Europe and east Asia will be closer to each other this way," he said.
The European Space Agency says sea ice is down to three million square kilometres - less than the previous record low of four million square kilometres in 2005.
The National Ice and Snow Data Centre in the US has also been monitoring the shrinking of summer sea ice in the Arctic.
The centre's Dr Walt Meier says this summer has seen record low ice coverage.
"This year there's a whole pretty substantial region about the size of the state of California that had been covered by sea ice every single day that we've been monitoring it since the late 1970s until this year. That now has disappeared," he said.
Maritime law expert from the Australian National University, Professor Donald Rothwell, says ships may be travelling through the Northwest Passage as early as next year.
"The evidence seems to suggest that the melting of the Arctic sea ice is occurring so rapidly, that it's inevitable, I think, that commercial interests will begin to look at navigation through the Northwest Passage very soon," he said.
"It will be possible to do so with ice-strengthened vessels, so you don't necessarily need to have an ice-breaker class vessel to do so.
"There are many vessels which are certainly ice-strengthened, and that would suggest that commercially this will be explored, perhaps in the coming season."
But the melting sea-ice is already causing international disputes.
The US and the European Union say the Northwest Passage falls within international waters, but as it winds through the Canadian Arctic archipelago, Canada is claiming sovereignty over the route.
In July, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a plan to patrol the Passage with ships.
Professor Rothwell says a resolution will need to be found.
"There's nothing which would suggest that the Canadians would send out their warships to actually prohibit passage through those waters, but rather I think they would say, well yes, you can pass through our waters, but under very, very strict environmental conditions," he said.
"And those environmental conditions are ones that not all vessels may be able to meet.
"That would ultimately perhaps be the significant bone of contention between the Canadians and its neighbours, who might be seeking to transit though these waters."
And the diplomatic wrangling doesn't just extend to new shipping routes. The melting ice opens the potential for undersea gas and oil explorations in the Arctic.
Russia last month caused a stir when it sent two submarines to plant its national flag on the seabed under the North Pole.
"I think it's inevitable that there's going to be a number of competing claims being made to the seabed in the Arctic Ocean over the coming years," Professor Rothwell said.
"This is a matter, however, that eventually will get partially resolved by the International Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf - that's a UN organisation, which meets in New York.
"And so there's more than likely going to be a diplomatic process which will result in something of a carving up of the seabed of the Arctic Ocean, which could probably take as long as 10 years, until such time as the various claims have been asserted, and the credibility of those claims verified by the UN."
Now with global warming, melting sea ice has opened that sea lane, and it has started a round of international wrangling over new trading routes.
The European Space Agency says Arctic sea ice melted to a record low this summer - making the Northwest Passage fully navigable for the first time since monitoring began 30 years ago.
The director of the Swedish Space Agency, Per Tergen, says this will halve the distance of shipping routes between Europe and Asia.
"It's clear that Europe and east Asia will be closer to each other this way," he said.
The European Space Agency says sea ice is down to three million square kilometres - less than the previous record low of four million square kilometres in 2005.
The National Ice and Snow Data Centre in the US has also been monitoring the shrinking of summer sea ice in the Arctic.
The centre's Dr Walt Meier says this summer has seen record low ice coverage.
"This year there's a whole pretty substantial region about the size of the state of California that had been covered by sea ice every single day that we've been monitoring it since the late 1970s until this year. That now has disappeared," he said.
Maritime law expert from the Australian National University, Professor Donald Rothwell, says ships may be travelling through the Northwest Passage as early as next year.
"The evidence seems to suggest that the melting of the Arctic sea ice is occurring so rapidly, that it's inevitable, I think, that commercial interests will begin to look at navigation through the Northwest Passage very soon," he said.
"It will be possible to do so with ice-strengthened vessels, so you don't necessarily need to have an ice-breaker class vessel to do so.
"There are many vessels which are certainly ice-strengthened, and that would suggest that commercially this will be explored, perhaps in the coming season."
But the melting sea-ice is already causing international disputes.
The US and the European Union say the Northwest Passage falls within international waters, but as it winds through the Canadian Arctic archipelago, Canada is claiming sovereignty over the route.
In July, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced a plan to patrol the Passage with ships.
Professor Rothwell says a resolution will need to be found.
"There's nothing which would suggest that the Canadians would send out their warships to actually prohibit passage through those waters, but rather I think they would say, well yes, you can pass through our waters, but under very, very strict environmental conditions," he said.
"And those environmental conditions are ones that not all vessels may be able to meet.
"That would ultimately perhaps be the significant bone of contention between the Canadians and its neighbours, who might be seeking to transit though these waters."
And the diplomatic wrangling doesn't just extend to new shipping routes. The melting ice opens the potential for undersea gas and oil explorations in the Arctic.
Russia last month caused a stir when it sent two submarines to plant its national flag on the seabed under the North Pole.
"I think it's inevitable that there's going to be a number of competing claims being made to the seabed in the Arctic Ocean over the coming years," Professor Rothwell said.
"This is a matter, however, that eventually will get partially resolved by the International Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf - that's a UN organisation, which meets in New York.
"And so there's more than likely going to be a diplomatic process which will result in something of a carving up of the seabed of the Arctic Ocean, which could probably take as long as 10 years, until such time as the various claims have been asserted, and the credibility of those claims verified by the UN."
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1 comments:
WOW, thank you for this... We truly are fucked... Hobbes
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