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The Northwest Passage is open



As expected, the Arctic sea ice continues to melt at high speed. And for the first time, Northwest Passage is open: it is free of ice. It

is materialized in orange on the photo Envisat ASAR above. As I said about the collapse of the Ayles ice , this passage will allow the establishment of a massive sea transit between Europe and Asia, and disappearing wildlife who lives in the Arctic region, including polar bears .

The blue line on the image above is the Northeast Passage, which is still partially blocked in Siberia. But this is only a postponement.



Indeed, the area covered by ice in September 2007 only 3 million square kilometers. It is 1 million kilometers square less than the previous minima observed in 2005 and 2006.

Over the past ten years the average loss of Arctic sea ice was 100 000 square kilometers per year. A sharp drop of one million square kilometers in one year confirms the "avalanche process" and the sudden acceleration of the polar caps melt.

And this will obviously have major repercussions on the climate of our planet.

For more information:
1. Satellites witness Lowest Arctic ice coverage in history (ESA)
2. Northwest Passage Nearly Open (NASA - August 22)
3. Northwest Passage Nearly Open (NASA - 29 août)
4. Passage du Nord-Ouest (Wikipédia)
5. Arctic Sea Ice News Fall 2007 (The National Snow and Ice Data Center)
6. Arctic sea ice 'melts to all-time low' (The Telegraph)
7. La banquise se retrécit (Gaïa - octobre 2005)
8. La banquise arctique va disparaître l'été d'ici 2040 (Gaïa - décembre 2006)

Crédit photos : ESA et NASA