ICE MELT RAISES PASSAGE TENSION

[Anonymous]

Ice melt raises passage tension
Canadian
ArcticOCT 07 In another sign of potential friction in the warming
Arctic, Canada has warned that it will step up patrols of the Northwest
Passage.Record summer melting of sea-ice has made the passage fully
navigable; and immediately escalated a dispute over who controls the
route.Canada maintains that the waterway that connects the Atlantic
with the Pacific lies within its territorial waters.It has backed that
up with plans for a new military base in the Arctic.However, the United
States, and other countries claim international rights to use the route
for shipping.

Big melt
In an interview with BBC News, the
head of the Canadian Coast Guard, George Da Pont, said: “Our view is
that it’s our territorial waters and that we govern it accordingly.
Obviously the Americans and some European countries have different
views.”I assume at some point in time they’ll get settled but we’re
pretty confident that they’re Canadian territorial waters and that we
should be regulating and asserting our control over them as we would
over any other part of our territorial water.”It’s critical, it’s part
of our history; like any country it’s important to assert your control
over your country and your territorial waters.”His statement comes as
polar experts are still reeling from the dramatic loss of Arctic ice
this summer.

The Canadian Ice Service was among the
organisations monitoring the retreat and its director, Doug Bancroft,
told the BBC that he was “stunned” that this extent of melting had not
been expected for decades.”It just seemed as if it wasn’t going to
stop. Normally, towards the end of August, the beginning of September,
the melting slows down and stops and we get ready for the coming fall
and the refreezing during the winter. But it just kept on going and the
concern was, ‘Well when is it going to stop this year?’ – and
ultimately when it did stop, it shattered all previous records.”

Research cruise
On
Monday, the Canadian Coast Guard is preparing to send one its research
vessels, the Amundsen, through the Northwest Passage with about 40
scientists on board .Equipped with a remotely operated robot submarine
and a sonar system, the ship will undertake a detailed survey of the
sea-bed – essential if the waterway is to become more open to
commercial shipping.Researchers on board also hope to study the
changing patterns of the ice – not only the ice that grows and retreats
with the seasons but also the far thicker multi-year ice which drifts
with the Arctic currents and poses the most serious threat to any
vesselsA British team on board will study the sediment on the sea-bed
to hunt for a chemical record of changes in the ice stretching back for
the past thousand years – a vital task to help understand the likely
rate of change in the future.

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October 10, 2007 at 11:52 AM