This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When a blue-hulled cargo ship named Venta Maersk became the first container vessel to navigate a major Arctic sea route this month, it offered a glimpse of what the warming region might become: a maritime highway, with vessels lumbering between Asia and Europe through once-frozen seas. Years of melting ice have made it easier for ships to ply these frigid waters. That’s a boon for the shipping industry but a threat to the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Nearly all ships run on fossil fuels, and many use heavy fuel oil, which spews black soot when burned and turns seas into a toxic goopy mess when spilled. Few international rules are in place to protect the Arctic’s environment from these ships, though a proposal to ban heavy fuel oil from the region is gaining support. “For a long time, we weren’t looking at the Arctic as a viable option for a shortcut for Asia-to-Europe, or … [Read more...] about As the Arctic Melts, the Fabled Northwest Passage Opens for Cargo Ships
Arctic melting
Summer Sea Ice Is Causing Havoc for Shipping in the Arctic
Summer sea ice is causing havoc for shipping in the Arctic. This is the same Arctic sea ice that climate change experts predicted would have vanished by 2013. According to the Barents Observer:It is late June, but the winter has not abandoned the Gulf of Ob. The shallow bay, which houses two of Russia’s biggest Arctic out-shipment terminals for oil and gas, remains packed with fast ice. It has created a complicated situation, Rosatomflot says. The state company which manages the Russian nuclear-powered icebreakers, confirms that independent shipping in the area is «paralysed» and that LNG carriers and tankers are stuck. Global warming? What global warming? «The global warming, which there has been so much talk about for such a long time, seems to have receded a little and we are returning to the standards of the 1980s and 1990s,» says company representative Andrey Smirnov. As the Climatism blog notes, all this summer ice rather … [Read more...] about Summer Sea Ice Is Causing Havoc for Shipping in the Arctic
The Arctic Is Experiencing a Record-Breaking Heat Wave
Getty ImagesChase Dekker Wild-Life Images The Arctic is supposed to be cold, but right now it’s anything but. Temperatures at the North Pole are reaching a record high, perhaps as much as 35 degrees Fahrenheit for the month of February, which is warmer than the region usually gets during the summer months.That data comes from the U.S. Global Forecast System, a computer model of the Earth’s weather and climate. While there’s a chance the model is wrong about the temperature, independent measurements have confirmed that the temperature in the Arctic is around freezing temperatures. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below That means the Arctic is now about 50 degrees warmer than it usually is this time of year. It also means Arctic ice is already beginning to melt. This is particularly alarming because the winter months are supposed to be when the Arctic builds ice, and Arctic ice is already at a record low. So what’s causing the abnormal warming? Scientists … [Read more...] about The Arctic Is Experiencing a Record-Breaking Heat Wave
Last Week, the Arctic Was Warmer Than Europe: Here’s Why
During the Arctic winter, when the sun hides from October to March, the average temperature in the frozen north typically hovers around a bone-chilling minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius). But this year, the Arctic is experiencing a highly unusual heat wave. On Feb. 20, the temperature in Greenland not only climbed above freezing — 32 degrees F (0 degrees C) — it stayed there for over 24 hours, according to data from the Danish Meteorological Institute. And on Saturday (Feb. 24) the temperature on Greenland's northern tip reached 43 degrees F (6 degrees C), leading climate scientists to describe the phenomenon on Twitter as "crazy," "weird," "scary stuff" and "simply shocking." Weather conditions that drive this bizarre temperature surge have visited the Arctic before, typically appearing about once in a decade, experts told Live Science. However, the last such spike in Arctic winter warmth took place in February 2016 — much more recently than a … [Read more...] about Last Week, the Arctic Was Warmer Than Europe: Here’s Why
Beluga Whales Dive Deeper, Longer to Find Food in Arctic
Reductions in sea ice in the Arctic have a clear impact on animals such as polar bears that rely on frozen surfaces for feeding, mating and migrating. But sea ice loss is changing Arctic habitat and affecting other species in more indirect ways, new research finds. Beluga whales that spend summers feeding in the Arctic are diving deeper and longer to find food than in earlier years, when sea ice covered more of the ocean for longer periods, according to a new analysis led by University of Washington researchers. The study, published this month in the journal Diversity and Distributions, is one of the first to consider the indirect effects of sea ice loss on Arctic species that dwell near the ice, but don't necessarily depend on it for survival. "I think this paper is novel in that we're presenting some of the first indirect effects of sea ice loss for an Arctic whale species," said lead author Donna Hauser, a postdoctoral researcher at the UW's Polar Science Center and former doctoral … [Read more...] about Beluga Whales Dive Deeper, Longer to Find Food in Arctic