Image courtesy of USFWS
Global warming is making the Arctic a hot property. In early August a team of Russian geologists placed a flag in the seabed under the North Pole, claiming it was part of Russia's underwater territory. Earlier this summer Canada's prime minister announced plans to increase patrolling to protect Canadian sovereignty over the Northwest Passage, the fabled shipping route that snakes along Canada's northern border. All this squabbling promises to intensify over the next few years as the Arctic Circle becomes ripe for exploitation.
For years, climate scientists have used the Arctic region as an example of how warming temperatures can hurt the environment. The Arctic has been heating up much faster than any other part of the world owing to a variety of climatological factors. In 2006 Arctic ice levels dipped below the record minimum and researchers expect the next few years' levels to be even lower. As the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean continues to melt, more and more ships will be able to pass through waterways like the Northwest Passage. Shipping companies may be drooling over the potential economic benefits, but increased shipping through the Arctic could have devastating environmental consequences, including habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, and perhaps worst of all, a high chance of oil or chemical spills that could be nearly impossible to clean up.
Mariners have been dreaming about using the Northwest Passage above Canada and the Northern Sea route above Siberia for centuries. The two waterways represent a seductive shortcut between Europe and Asia; the current route from Europe involves looping all the way down to the Panama Canal and back up the U.S. West Coast, a distance of about 12,000 miles. The Northwest Passage route is about 4,000 miles shorter, which could save shipping companies millions of dollars on fuel.
To the explorers who, for centuries, tried to navigate the Northwest Passage and failed (hundreds perished in the iceberg-filled waters), the idea of an ice-free Arctic would probably sound ludicrous. Typically, it takes a specially constructed ship with a hardened body to push through the frozen waterway, and even then, only when icebreakers clear its path; the substantial added expense deterred shipping companies from using the passage. But two years ago, the Russian vessel Akademik Fyodorov became the first ship to make it through the Northwest Passage without icebreakers. The window during the late summer when ships could get through used to be a short week or two, but it's been increasing every year. It won't be long before more ships without icebreakers start attempting the journey, Arctic experts say.
And ships won't be entering the Arctic just for quick transits through the Northwest Passage. The number one draw to an ice-diminished Arctic is the cache of natural resources like oil and natural gas that are thought to be buried under the ocean floor. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic contains up to a quarter of the world's undiscovered oil and natural gas. Once covered by thick sea ice, these treasures could soon become accessible, and Arctic nations like the U.S., Russia, and Denmark want the profits.
Environmental groups are not happy about the prospect of increased shipping in the Arctic. Many worry that expanding traffic over the next few years is all too likely to cause an environmentally disastrous accident because the ice won't be completely cleared for decades—it will have cleared just enough that inexperienced mariners will recklessly try to push through. "Freighters of all sorts will be coming through to save some cost on fuel," says Joseph Handley, premier of Canada's Northwest Territories, which border the Arctic Ocean. "They’ll come through and there will be accidents."
If the worst case does come to pass and there's a large oil or chemical spill in the Arctic, its consequences could be worse than in other areas. The evaporation process is much slower in high latitudes because the water is so cold; breaking down spilled oil would take many decades, says Peter Ewins, director of species conservation for World Wildlife Fund-Canada. In addition, the region is so far removed from population and maritime centers that getting cleanup supplies to a spill site would be much harder, if not impossible. After the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard was near enough that a cleanup effort could start immediately. But if a colossal spill like the Valdez happened much farther north, it could devastate the area. "If you had to clean up a spill in the high Arctic, I don’t know how you’d do it," Handley says.
