Editing Northwest Passage (section)

==Thinning ice cover and the Northwest Passage==
[[File:2007 Arctic Sea Ice.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Arctic shrinkage]] as of 2007 compared to previous years]]
In summer 2000, two Canadian ships took advantage of thinning summer ice cover on the Arctic Ocean to make the crossing.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/amazing-voyage-through-perilous-arctic-ocean-2724083.php |title=Amazing Voyage Through Perilous Arctic Ocean / Mounties boat sails Northwest Passage |access-date=December 18, 2010 |first=Carolyn |last=Jones |work=[[The San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=December 4, 2000 |archive-date=November 21, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121112620/http://articles.sfgate.com/2000-12-04/news/17671507_1_northwest-passage-arctic-ocean-king-william-island |url-status=live }}</ref> It is thought that climate change is likely to open the passage for increasing periods, making it potentially attractive as a major shipping route. However, the passage through the Arctic Ocean would require significant investment in escort vessels and staging ports, and it would remain seasonal. Therefore, the route has not become a viable alternative to the Panama Canal.<ref name="Arctic Marine Transport Workshop">{{cite report |url=https://storage.googleapis.com/arcticgov-static/publications/other/arctic_marine_transport.pdf |editor1-first=Lawson |editor1-last=Brigham |editor2-first=Ben |editor2-last=Ellis |title=Arctic Marine Transport Workshop |date=September 2004 |publisher=[[Scott Polar Research Institute]], Cambridge University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808145951/http://www.arctic.gov/files/AMTW_book.pdf |archive-date=August 8, 2007 |url-status=dead |accessdate=December 7, 2018 }}</ref>

On September 14, 2007, the [[European Space Agency]] (ESA) stated that ice loss that year had opened up the historically impassable passage, setting a new low of ice cover as seen in satellite measurements which went back to 1978. According to the [[Arctic Climate Impact Assessment]], the latter part of the 20th century and the start of the 21st had seen marked shrinkage of ice cover. The extreme loss in 2007 rendered the passage "fully navigable."<ref name="esa">{{cite web |url=http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYTC13J6F_index_0.html |title=Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in history |publisher=[[European Space Agency]] |date=September 14, 2007 |access-date=September 15, 2007 |archive-date=April 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412010140/http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMYTC13J6F_index_0.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Beeb">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6995999.stm |title=Warming 'opens Northwest Passage' |access-date=September 14, 2007 |work=[[BBC News]] |date=September 14, 2007 |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011110046/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6995999.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the ESA study was based only on analysis of satellite images and could in practice not confirm anything about the actual navigation of the waters of the passage. ESA suggested the passage would be navigable "during reduced ice cover by multi-year ice pack" (namely sea ice surviving one or more summers) where previously any traverse of the route had to be undertaken during favourable seasonable climatic conditions or by specialist vessels or expeditions. The agency's report speculated that the conditions prevalent in 2007 had shown the passage may "open" sooner than expected.<ref name="plain">{{cite news |last=Westcott |first=Kathryn |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6999078.stm |title=Plain Sailing on the Northwest Passage |work=[[BBC News]] |date=September 19, 2007 |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=January 27, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127043224/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6999078.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> An expedition in May 2008 reported that the passage was not yet continuously navigable even by an icebreaker and not yet ice-free.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080524.TRIPPING24/TPStory |work=The Globe and Mail |title=Tripping through the Northwest Passage |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029085445/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080524.TRIPPING24/TPStory |archive-date=October 29, 2014}}</ref>

Scientists at a meeting of the [[American Geophysical Union]] on December 13, 2007, revealed that NASA satellites observing the western Arctic{{Clarify|date=November 2008 |reason=Where is the Western Arctic? Is that the same thing that I would mean, anywhere west of the Boothia Peninsula but not including Resolute, or Baker Lake?}} showed a 16% decrease in cloud coverage during the summer of 2007 compared to 2006. This would have the effect of allowing more [[sunlight]] to penetrate Earth's atmosphere and warm the Arctic Ocean waters, thus melting sea ice and contributing to opening the Northwest Passage.<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrea |last=Thompson |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316753,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215124443/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316753,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 15, 2007 |title=Extra Sunshine Blamed for Part of Arctic Meltdown |work=Fox News |date=December 14, 2007}}</ref>

However more recent observations show that the annual window for safe shipping in the Arctic ocean is shrinking, apparently because rapid melting of thin sea ice allows thicker multiyear ice to move around and clog ship channels.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Semeniuk |first1=Ivan |title=Ice is clogging the Northwest Passage, thwarting hopes for improved shipping as Arctic warms |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/science/article-ice-is-clogging-the-northwest-passage-thwarting-hopes-for-improved/ |website=The Globe and Mail |access-date=14 December 2024 |date=31 July 2024 |quote=The annual window for safe shipping across the top of North America appears to be shrinking,}}</ref>

In 2006 the cruise liner {{ship|MS|Bremen}} successfully ran the Northwest Passage,<ref name="hl-cruises1"/> helped by satellite images telling where sea ice was.

On November 28, 2008, the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed the first commercial ship sailed through the Northwest Passage. In September 2008, {{MV|Camilla Desgagnés}}, owned by Desgagnés Transarctik Inc. and, along with the [[Arctic Cooperative]], part of Nunavut Sealift and Supply Incorporated (NSSI),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arcticsealift.com/en/medias/MEET%20THE%20CARRIER%20%20Revised%20March%202013_0.pdf |title=Meet your Nunavut Carrier |publisher=Nunavut Sealink and Supply Inc. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003031843/http://www.arcticsealift.com/en/medias/MEET%20THE%20CARRIER%20%20Revised%20March%202013_0.pdf |archive-date=October 3, 2013 |access-date=September 23, 2013 }}</ref> transported cargo from Montreal to the hamlets of [[Cambridge Bay]], [[Kugluktuk]], [[Gjoa Haven]], and [[Taloyoak]]. A member of the crew is reported to have claimed that "there was no ice whatsoever." Shipping from the east was to resume in the fall of 2009.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/1st-commercial-ship-sails-through-northwest-passage-1.715493 |title=1st commercial ship sails through Northwest Passage |work=CBC News |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |date=November 28, 2008 |access-date=September 23, 2013 |archive-date=September 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927052019/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/1st-commercial-ship-sails-through-northwest-passage-1.715493 |url-status=live }}</ref> Although [[sealift]] is an annual feature of the Canadian Arctic this was the first time that the western communities had been serviced from the east. The western portion of the Canadian Arctic is normally supplied by [[Northern Transportation Company Limited]] (NTCL) from [[Hay River, Northwest Territories|Hay River]], and the eastern portion by NNSI and NTCL from [[Churchill, Manitoba|Churchill]] and Montreal.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntcl.com/ |title=NTCL |publisher=[[Northern Transportation Company Ltd.]] |access-date=February 19, 2011 |archive-date=February 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210192632/http://www.ntcl.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.groupedesgagnes.com/en/cartevirtuelle/index.cfm?filiale=t |title=Ports Served |work=GroupeDesgagnes.com |publisher=[[Groupe Desgagnés]] |access-date=February 19, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081221001837/http://www.groupedesgagnes.com/en/cartevirtuelle/index.cfm?filiale=t |archive-date=December 21, 2008 }}</ref>

In January 2010, the ongoing reduction in the Arctic sea ice led telecoms cable specialist Kodiak-Kenai Cable to propose the laying of a [[fibre-optic cable]] connecting London and Tokyo by way of the Northwest Passage, saying the proposed system would nearly cut in half the time it takes to send messages from the United Kingdom to Japan.

In September 2013, the first large ice-strengthened sea freighter, ''[[Nordic Orion]]'', used the passage.<ref name=reuters/>

In 2016 a new record was set when the cruise ship ''[[Crystal Serenity]]'' transited with 1,700 passengers and crew.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/09/first-came-an-arctic-luxury-cruise-next-comes-arctic-shipping/ |title=That pricey Arctic luxury cruise was just the beginning. Up next: Arctic shipping |author-link=Chris Mooney (journalist) |first=Chris |last=Mooney |date=September 9, 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=September 14, 2016 |archive-date=September 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210907040356/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/09/09/first-came-an-arctic-luxury-cruise-next-comes-arctic-shipping/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''Crystal Serenity'' is the largest cruise ship to navigate the Northwest Passage. Starting on August 10, 2016, the ship sailed from Vancouver to New York City, taking 28 days for the journey.

Plans to lay a [[fibre-optic cable]] through the passage were revived in 2021, the project is known as [[Far North Fiber]].<ref>{{citation|title=New submarine cable to link Japan, Europe, through famed Northwest Passage|author=Simon Sharwood|work=[[The Register]]|date=21 December 2021|url=https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/21/far_north_fiber_proposal/|access-date=January 9, 2022|archive-date=January 5, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220105014846/https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/21/far_north_fiber_proposal/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Transfer of Pacific species to North Atlantic===
Scientists believe that reduced sea ice in the Northwest Passage has permitted some new species to migrate across the Arctic Ocean.<ref name=ibt>{{cite news |title=Global warming reintroduces gray whale, algae species to Northern Atlantic |first=Hao |last=Li |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/169740/20110626/gray-whale-algae-atlantic-northwest-passage.htm |access-date=July 5, 2011 |work=[[International Business Times]] |date=June 26, 2011 |archive-date=July 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110701071841/http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/169740/20110626/gray-whale-algae-atlantic-northwest-passage.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[gray whale]] ''Eschrichtius robustus'' has not been seen in the Atlantic since it was hunted to extinction there in the 18th century, but in May 2010, one such whale turned up in the [[Mediterranean]]. Scientists speculated the whale had followed its food sources through the Northwest Passage and simply kept on going.<ref name=ibt/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Scheinin |first1=Aviad P |last2=Aviad |first2=P. |last3=Kerem |first3=Dan |title=Gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) in the Mediterranean Sea: anomalous event or early sign of climate-driven distribution change? |journal=Marine Biodiversity Records |date=2011 |volume=2 |page=e28 |doi=10.1017/s1755267211000042|doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |bibcode=2011MBdR....4E..28S |s2cid=43914291 }}</ref><ref name=mulvaney>{{cite web |last=Mulvaney |first=Kieran |title=Prodigal Plankton Returns to the Atlantic |url=http://news.discovery.com/earth/prodigal-plankton-returns-to-the-atlantic-110626.html |work=[[Discovery News]] |access-date=July 5, 2011 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629003455/http://news.discovery.com/earth/prodigal-plankton-returns-to-the-atlantic-110626.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The [[plankton]] species ''Neodenticula seminae'' had not been recorded in the Atlantic for 800,000 years. However, it has become increasingly prevalent there. Again, scientists believe that it got there through the reopened Northwest Passage.<ref name=ibt/><ref name=mulvaney/>

In August 2010, two [[bowhead whale]]s from West Greenland and Alaska respectively, entered the Northwest Passage from opposite directions and spent approximately 10 days in the same area.<ref name="nwWhale">{{cite journal |first1=Mads Peter |last1=Heide-Jørgensen |first2=Kristin L. |last2=Laidre |first3=Lori T. |last3=Quakenbush |first4=John J. |last4=Citta |title=The Northwest Passage opens for bowhead whales |journal=[[Biology Letters]] |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=270–273 |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |date=September 21, 2011 |doi=10.1098/rsbl.2011.0731 |pmid=21937490 |pmc=3297376 }}</ref>