1. catdynamics
  2. Climate Change: Europe to get Chinese Trinkets Cheap!

Climate Change: Europe to get Chinese Trinkets Cheap!

By catdynamics on September 20, 2006.

ESA Envisat press release shows north pole ice pack cracked from Svalbarð to the pole.

Finally large container ships will be able to take the short cut from Hong Kong to Rotterdam. Eh?

The NASA EOS Aqua satellite provided the complimentary data on this but have not seen an associated NASA press release.

"Mark Drinkwater of ESA's Oceans/Ice Unit said: "This situation is unlike anything observed in previous record low ice seasons. It is highly imaginable that a ship could have passed from Spitzbergen or Northern Siberia through what is normally pack ice to reach the North Pole without difficulty.

"If this anomaly trend continues, the North-East Passage or 'Northern Sea Route' between Europe and Asia will be open over longer intervals of time, and it is conceivable we might see attempts at sailing around the world directly across the summer Arctic Ocean within the next 10-20 years." "

tip to billmon

Tags
Science

More like this

The Northwest Passage: The strait story
Everyone, even Wired magazine is jumping on the "news" from the European Space Agency that the Northwest Passage is open, right across the Arctic Archipelago. Which is odd because American researchers made the same announcement earlier this summer. We need better media coverage of the effects of…
Canadians Should Root For Global Warming*
*note Global Warming is VERY BAD and title is sarcasm. Flashback to 1992, it's early in the morning and a decrepit high school teacher stands before a class discussing the finer points of history. In the back row sits a smart ass, me, not listening and telling himself why should a future…
Going, going, gone
The North Polar ice sheet continues to recede, setting yet another record: Sea ice extent continues to decline, and is now at 4.78 million square kilometers (1.84 million square miles), falling yet further below the record absolute minimum of 5.32 million square kilometers (2.05 million square…
August Monthly Anomaly Smashes Previous Record
August sea ice extent in the Arctic this year was 640,000 square kilometers below the previous record set in 2007.  It is also already a record monthly low for any month, though that record will not last as it is going to be broken this September when the lowest extent of the year is normally…