Hazardous Melting Ice Could Sink Arctic Shipping

image via New Scientist

August 5, 2024, 7:15 PM

• •Climate change is thinning Arctic sea ice, but contrary to conventional wisdom that’s making shipping through the North American Arctic more difficult.
• •The melting of local ice due to global warming enables thicker ice from Greenland to flow into the corridor’s choke points, reducing the length of time when ships can move through the passage.
• •The results contradict the common view that the Northwest Passage, the Arctic Ocean waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific, is an increasingly practical option for commercial shipping.

Climate change is thinning Arctic sea ice, but contrary to conventional wisdom that’s making shipping through the North American Arctic more difficult. A study published in Nature looked at Canada’s Northwest Passage over 15 years. It found that the melting of local ice due to global warming enables thicker ice from Greenland to flow into the corridor’s choke points, reducing the length of time when ships can move through the passage.

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