Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.
-- Stan Rogers

Yes, but, is this altogether a *Good* thing? Are those of us living near the coastlines in for a nice little swim??


Northwest Passage May Become Nautical Reality
    Sunday, November 10, 2002   
   
BY ROBERT S. BOYD
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- A centuries-old dream of merchants and sailors, the fabled Northwest Passage across the ice-covered top of the world, may become open for commercial shipping as soon as five summers from now.

   Climate records show that the Arctic zone is warming much faster than mid-latitude and tropical regions of our planet, causing the ice to melt at an accelerating rate. Some experts say the polar ice cap could disappear during the peak months of summer well before the end of this century.

   The ice reportedly shrank more dramatically this year than at any time since detailed records have been kept.

In addition, there is a Northeast Passage along the upper rim of Siberia that is even more likely to open up than the Northwest Passage above Canada, according to a report released this year by the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, a federal agency.

In one of the few advantageous side effects of climate warming, a Northwest Passage threading 900 miles through a tangle of islands about 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle could be open to shipping for one or two months a year five to 10 years from now.

The northwestern path through the ice would cut the travel distance between Europe and Asia by 6,800 miles, compared with the standard route through the Panama Canal. For supertankers, which now must sail all the way around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, the trip would be shortened by 11,800 miles.

Space satellites have been measuring the shrinkage of polar ice since 1979. During that time, the area covered by ice in summer has shrunk about 10 percent.

   The extent of the ice apparently reached a record minimum for the month of August in August 2002, according to the latest data collected by the National Snow and Ice Data Center. A further reduction was expected for September, when the coverage of arctic ice usually is at its smallest.

According to Walsh, one climate model predicts the Arctic ice cap will vanish entirely during the summers by 2050. Four other models, however, say some ice will remain.