Editing Northwest Passage (section)

===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>