Increased open water in the Arctic does not necessarily mean easier navigation, says Yale Climate Connections

Transcript:

Navigating ships through the icy waters of the Canadian Arctic can be difficult and dangerous.

But as the climate warms, Arctic ice is melting, so shipping companies are watching to see if the melting makes it easier to navigate through the region.

But Jackie Dawson, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa who researches Arctic shipping, says the effects are complicated.

Dawson: “Despite the fact that we are seeing melting sea ice, what we’re actually seeing is the breakup of big, huge ice islands and ice packs, and those … smaller bits of ice are flowing particularly into the Northwest Passage, and they’re choking up those small regions that you have to get through.”

All sorts of vessels – from fishing boats to yachts and oil tankers – can get stuck and stranded.

And ships that supply food to remote communities may not be able to reach them.

Dawson: “A few years ago, we saw a few communities in the western Canadian Arctic, the resupply ship just couldn’t get to them … and what that meant was the food had to be flown in. And … food prices in those communities were absolutely astronomical.”

So she says that while melting sea ice is enabling more ship traffic overall, it’s also making conditions in some areas more unreliable and dangerous.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media