Sunday, September 16, 2007

northwest nightmare


from yahoo news
Arctic ice melt opens Northwest Passage
By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 6 minutes ago

PARIS - Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage that eluded famous explorers will become an open shipping lane. The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978.

The waters are exposing unexplored resources, and vessels could trim thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by bypassing the Panama Canal. The seasonal ebb and flow of ice levels has already opened up a slim summer window for ships........Pedersen said the extreme [ice] retreat this year suggested the passage could fully open sooner than expected — but ESA did not say when that might be. Efforts to contact ESA officials in Paris and Noordwik, the Netherlands, were unsuccessful Saturday.......
Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the United States are among countries in a race to secure rights to the Arctic ...... A U.S. study has suggested as much as 25 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden in the area.....

Associated Press Writer Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report.
can we say SCARY AS HELL!! how can the complete destruction of an entire habitat be viewed in any positive light? hess says that the northwest passage could be a huge reduction in fuel usage, and maybe thats so, but it will also be the end of wild polar bears and seals....what a disaster

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