Monday, October 27, 2008

Shipping In An Ice-Free Arctic


Original story here.

8 comments:

The Mound of Sound said...

There'll be no turning this back. The Euros see the passage as a boon to transportation with Asia. Everyone in the neighbourhood is eyeing the seabed treasures - oil, gas and minerals. The Arctic eco-system is so fragile it won't be able to adapt and, given its role in the marine food chain, we can't begin to assess the long-term consequences.

Robert McClelland said...

Shouldn't the free market handle most if not all of those concerns. After all, why should the taxpayer be on the hook for billions just so that shipping companies can shave a few bucks off their costs.

The Mound of Sound said...

Of course they should, Rob. And we'd probably be every bit as effective at enforcing compliance as we are in any other ocean on earth.

Brent Neill said...

This will be boon to Churchill and Manitoba as a whole. It can put Thunder Bay out of business and also put a dent in the shipping hubs in the Atlantic.

Unknown said...

Will the Arctic be ice free by 2013? We are told that one year is not a trend and then a bunch of climate scientists say 2007 is the trend for the Arctic.

As of today, October 27th, Arctic ice extent is 1,500,000 square kms higher then last year's low levels:

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.jpg

Other government data shows Arctic ice extent to be even closer to long term norms:

http://www.ijis.iarc.uaf.edu/seaice/extent/AMSRE_Sea_Ice_Extent.png

Unknown said...

Were you trying to post communicate the trend in arctic ice coverage, Paul?
It's not that hard:

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/n_plot_hires.png

BTW, I'm still waiting for your response over here:
http://strongconservative.blogspot.com/2008/10/biden-gets-first-tough-interview-of.html

Unknown said...

Trends don't indicate an ice-free Arctic by 2013 lenny, unless like other climate scientists, you are now basing your trends on a one year anomaly.

Unknown said...

"Trends don't indicate an ice-free Arctic by 2013 lenny"

You're the one that mentioned it, then posted some links that didn't show the trend at all. Why didn't you simply post a link showing the trend in ice coverage?

BTW, I'm still waiting for your response over here:
http://strongconservative.blogspot.com/2008/10/biden-gets-first-tough-interview-of.html