Arctic Ocean could be open for regular services until 2017

Arctic Ocean could be open for regular services until 2017

The Arctic Ocean could be open for regular commercial air transport within the next five to 10 years, according to a Canadian scientist, the Polar Research Conference for the International Polar Year out.

But while that may sound like good news for the intercontinental trade could be the changing ice conditions bring new dangers for ships on the polar seas.

“Just because you cut the ice so, is one of the things we found that the rate at which the ice moved, increased,” said Dr. David Barber, chief scientist of the lead Circumpolar Flaw (CFL to study).

Barber

present the results of his study on Wednesday at the International Polar Year Conference in Montreal. More than 2,000 scientists have weekly conference to discuss the results of the International Polar Year, which lasted from 2007 to 2009.

Barber

study involved spending a whole winter on board the Canadian Coast Guard research icebreaker, the Amundsen, in the open waters of the Beaufort Sea. CFL is an oceanographic term for water between the land masses of the Arctic sea ice, and furniture.

“We wanted something unique, something nobody else had ever done to do and we have seen so scientific -. What are the big questions we have,” Barber said.

“There will always return to this question: What happens to the open water in winter”

the answers they were stunned to him.

Arctic coast and more similar to the Pacific, the Atlantic Ocean

with the open sea was intense thunderstorms. The snow from these storms block the multi-year sea ice, it does not thicken much.

In short, more like the Arctic coast of the Pacific and Atlantic coasts to be. It is turning into a maritime climate is stormy and largely free of ice during the winter.

These changes mean that there are now thousands of journeys per year in the Arctic.

The vast majority of ships in and out of the polar ocean made for specific journeys, according to Lawson Brigham, a polar expedition expert who teaches at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“What we do not see – and what is covered in the media a lot – is a new way of global shipping.” Brigham says

says that it’s still not too much ice for it and the economy as a new route.

For now, shipping in the Arctic will be driven by two sectors: mining and tourism.

Of course, the reduction of ice is not just about shipping.

“To put it simply, two refrigerators are warming up. So if you are the ones that change affect the climate. It affects the ocean currents. It affects the species,” said Peter Harrison, who President of the International Polar Year Conference.

CBC | Science & Technology News