Northwest Passage, through Arctic, Opened by Thaw

For what appears to be the first time in recorded history, a direct seagoing route from Europe to Asia, around the north side of Canada, is ice free.

That's the startling conclusion of a European Space Agency satellite analysis, showing unprecedented melting of Arctic ice this year.

A true Northwest Passage, whether through rivers or this northern route, was sought for centuries by explorers and navigators as the America continent was being settled by Europeans. A direct shipping route from Europe to Asia would have saved enormous time and money; the lack of one ultimately led to the creation of the Panama Canal. Routes were eventually found, but were circuitous and largely choked with ice, making them commercially impracticable.

Today, the prospect of this new shipping route has already led to the beginnings of a political earthquake. Canada has claimed the sea waters north of its landmass for its own, but the U.S. disputes those claims.
(Canada's CBC has an excellent radio documentary available online on the history and current prospects of such a navigable route)

But good news for shipping lines is terrible news for the planet at large. The ice melt is faster than expected, and may force a rethinking of current global warming estimates. Says
Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Center:

"We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3
million sq km which is about 1 million sq km less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006. There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq km per year on average, so a drop of 1 million sq km in just one year is extreme.

"The strong reduction in just one year certainly raises flags that the ice (in summer) may disappear much sooner than expected and that we urgently need to understand better the processes involved."

The picture here shows a mosaic of the north pole region for early
September. The orange-yellow line depicts the Northwest Passage, the blue the route of a Northeast Passage north of Russia, which is not yet entirely clear. Dark gray shows ice-free areas, while green is sea ice.

Satellites witness lowest Arctic ice coverage in history [ESA]

(Photo Credit: ESA)