Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tanada wrote:Tanada wrote:Looking at the visible light sea ice satalite views Northwest Passage & Northeast Passage for Sunday October 5th it is clear that both passages are still nominally navigable by commercial shipping.
According to NSIDC 25Aug2008The United States National Ice Center confirms that Amundsen's Northwest Passage is navigable. The AMSR-E data furthermore indicate that the Northern Sea Route (also called the Northeast Passage) is open.
This means that the passages have both been navigable for 41 days as of yesterday. In 2007 only the Northwest passage opened, that occured 21AUG2007. The NSIDC report for 14OCT2007 indicates that no ice free route remained open as of that date. Therefore in 2007 the Northwest passage alone opened and was open about 50 days. In 2008 BOTH passages opened and are still both navigable after 41 days. I will keep an eye on them and see when each closes for the year.
For the last two years the Northwest Passage has been open for at least the last week of August, all of September and the first week of October.
Based on visible light imagry it appears that the Northeast passage closed yesterday, October 8th. From August 25th to October 7th is 43 days unless I miscounted somewhere, which is six full weeks and a day. The southern branch of thre Northwest passage remains open as of that date (yesterday).
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
CBC News wrote:The Canadian Coast Guard has confirmed that in a major first, a commercial ship travelled through the Northwest Passage this fall to deliver supplies to communities in western Nunavut.
The MV Camilla Desgagnes, owned by Desgagnes Transarctik Inc., transported cargo from Montreal to the hamlets of Cambridge Bay, Kugluktuk, Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak in September.
"We did have a commercial cargo vessel that did the first scheduled run from Montreal, up through the eastern Arctic, through the Northwest Passage to deliver cargo to communities in the west," Brian LeBlanc of the Canadian Coast Guard told CBC News.
George Bryson wrote:BARROW -- It's not that easy for hundreds of outsiders to suddenly sneak up on Barrow, considering how the northernmost town in the United States has neither a port nor a road to help them get here. Newcomers pretty much have to arrive on a big noisy plane.
Which is why nearly everyone in this historic Inupiat community was surprised last fall when they woke up to find about 400 German tourists walking around town. How the heck did they get here?
The answer?
They sailed from Europe to Barrow the short way -- via the suddenly ice-free Canadian Arctic -- after the fabled Northwest Passage opened completely last summer for the first time in recorded history.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
But the strongest interest for the Northern Sea Route is no longer among Arctic explorers. The Russian and international shipping industry see the ongoing climate changes and the retreating of the summer ice-cap in the Arctic as a new opportunity. The distance from Europe to Asia is much shorter when sailing north instead of using the Suez channel or sail around Africa. Shorter sailing route save time and save fuel. In other words; save money. Also, the Arctic is free of pirates....&
But, when the future history of the Arctic will be written, 2010 will be marked off as the breakthrough year for commercial shipping along the Northern Sea Route. Not because the Arctic is crowded with vessels. Not because there are big money yet. But, because there are so many different shipping interests involved and because Russia and foreign shipping companies agrees on the basic principles for using the route.
The vessel "Baltica" was the first ever high-tonnage tanker to sail with petroleum products from Europe to Asia via the north. The 100,000 tons tanker made the Northern Sea Route faster than expected. Other tankers have also sailed from Murmansk to Russia’s northeastern corner with oil-products this summer. Some Sovcomflot tankers will sail from the Varandey oil-terminal in Nenets Autonomous Area and eastbound now in September.
When the bulk-carrier “MV Nordic Barents” sails from the Northern Norwegian harbor of Kirkenes next week loaded with iron-ore concentrate, also that vessel writes itself into the history book of the new Arctic. The vessel is heading for China and will then be the first ever foreign flag vessel to sail the entire Northern Sea Route in transit without entering any Russian harbor.
The official said the voyage will attract the attention of freight forwarders to the transport capacities of the Northern Sea Route, which is the shortest seaway from the ports of western Europe and Russia to the Far East and South-East Asia.
Olersky said that in the future, the Northern Sea Route could replace the much longer passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Suez Canal.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Crazy_Dad wrote:................. if it is not too late already.
Newfie wrote:I think the major routes are pretty well charted already. But clearly there are still things to be 'found' (rocks by hulls), and that will result in more 'accidental' spills.
The Arctic has a mean depth of 15meters.
dissident wrote:The Arctic has a mean depth of 15meters.
No. The shallowest part of the Northern Sea Route is the ESAS with a mean depth of 45 m. The Barents Sea has a depth around 100 m. (See the bathymetry chart at link). If anything it is the Canadian North West Passage that is a shipping nightmare. In spite of all the bluster from the Harper government about sovereignty this is the least appealing route to the Orient.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Results of data analysis, based on measurement of atmospheric concentrations of methane in the shallow part of the East Siberian shelf (ESS) are presented in this work. It was shown that methane emission in the atmosphere is determined not only by natural factors, but is also sensitive to anthropogenic influences, like the engine mode of a ship. It was determined that the hydraulic impact, which occurs when starting a ship’s engine after drifting through a shallow, can induce a great methane outbreak in the atmosphere. The power of these “short-lived” sources can exceed the power of any one deep-water mud volcano. In the shallow parts of the ESS, the anthropogenic factor can be one of the important factors effecting methane outbreaks in the atmosphere.
Plantagenet wrote:They'll have to be careful to locate all the new drilling platforms away from the new shipping lanes as the Arctic Ocean sea ice continues to thaw.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tanada wrote:Plantagenet wrote:They'll have to be careful to locate all the new drilling platforms away from the new shipping lanes as the Arctic Ocean sea ice continues to thaw.
What is the nautical distance from Valdez or Anchorage, AK to Savannah, GA or NYC, NY via the Northern Sea Route vs Panama? Or what about Seattle, WA instead of an Alaskan port of call to the Eastern Seaboard?
When China or Korea or Japan decides to aggressively pursue the short route to the Atlantic their competitors will be falling all over themselves to join in the race.
Russians and Chinese, however, see an upside to ice melting in the Arctic.
On Wednesday, Russia’s Arctic summer shipping season closed, recording record ship transits and record cargo volumes. There were 47 crossings by ships between Asia and Europe - almost 12 times the four recorded in 2010.
With more open water, U.S. experts predict that cargo volumes will increase this decade by more than 50 times from this year’s level. For northern Europe, the Russian Arctic route can cut 7,000 kilometers off the standard trip to Asia through Egypt’s Suez Canal.
Russian pride in the Arctic is so high that there is a movement afoot in Moscow to rename the waters off Russia’s 7,000 kilometer shoreline: the Sea of Russia.
Shipping gains
China is taking notice, sending its first ship ever through Russia’s Arctic passage. The icebreaker Snow Dragon sailed from China to Iceland and back, docking in Shanghai in September.
Sergey Balmasov, a Russian who runs the Arctic Logistics Information Office in Kirkenes, northern Norway, said open water and a five-month season allowed several cargo ships to make round trip runs across the top of Russia this summer. Two ships found cargo for a return trip, taking jet fuel from South Korea to Finland.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Return to Conservation & Efficiency
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests