Traversing the Arctic

November 04, 2007

Courtesy of  Far North Science
By Doug O'Harra

The sun rises off the right side of a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane on its way to the North Pole on Oct. 25.
Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Kurt Fredrickson

With ice retreating hundreds of miles further north than at any time in the modern era, shipping to the world's largest zinc mine on Alaska's Chukchi Sea has been profitable, says the Puget Sound Business Journal in an article last month.

"Foss Maritime, to carry a record 1.45 million tons of zinc ore from northern Alaska's Red Dog mine before the ice closes in again in November," the article states. "Usually the ice returns more rapidly, limiting the loading of ore."

Like most managers around the region, McElroy, Foss' senior vice president of marine transportation, is conflicted about benefiting from global warming. He's worried about damage to sea life and to the global environment.

But he knows the retreating sea ice creates opportunities for Foss Maritime Co. in Arctic regions, and like other regional companies, Foss is seeking to develop them.

McElroy is particularly interested in new petroleum resources that may become accessible if there's more open water off the North Slope of Alaska in the summer.

"The oil development stuff, if it's offshore and onshore, requires tug and barge work and support activities, and that's definitely of interest to Foss," he said. "We're watching that closely."

Think this sounds peachy? Can you say "Titanic"? Open water and long fetches may give the shattered ice cap more room to founder in unpredictable ways. And the ice gurus are worried.

The International Ice Charting Group warns that although the Northwest Passage opened this summer, and the Northern Sea Route along the Arctic coast of Russia has opened in the past, navigating in the Arctic will remain extremely dangerous and very iffy for commercial shipping.

CGC Polar Star USCG photo by PA3 Andy Devilbiss "Sea ice and icebergs will continue to present significant hazards to navigation for the foreseeable future," the group said in a report posted online earlier this month. "The Arctic will still have a winter ice cover that will linger into summer for varying lengths of time depending on a range of conditions."

In parts of the Atlantic, where the Arctic Ocean was spilling its mult-year floes, jockeying bergs posed unusual problems.

"Increased export of sea ice from the Arctic Ocean caused a return to near-normal conditions around Greenland after several years of low ice concentrations," the report stated. "Sea ice also reached the coast of Iceland, an infrequent occurrence."

The sun rises off the right side of a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules airplane on its way to the North Pole on Oct. 25. Photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Kurt Fredrickson

Lawson Brigham, the gruff ex-ice breaker captain turned scientist for the Arctic Research Commission, also challenges any notion that loss of ice automatically transforms the Arctic seas into any kind of a container ship superhighway.

Think in-and-out supply routes, not trans-hemispheric shipping lanes, Brigham told the Puget Sound Business Journal, emphasizing a reality check that Brigham has been repeating for years.

While some experts have long been interested in developing a viable Northwest Passage north of Canada for merchant ships, or a similar passage over Russia, Brigham contends that the region will continue to freeze up during the long Arctic winter even if there is substantial global warming.

And without year-round ocean access through the region, ocean carriers are unlikely to try to develop regular cargo services through Arctic waters even if the distances are shorter.

"When you crunch the numbers, the major question for everyone is, can you do it year-round?" (Brigham) said. "Can you do it for four to six months in the summer, and then what happens the other time of the year? It is a more complicated dynamic than meets the eye.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard decided to launch it's first-ever aerial patrol of the North Pole. On Oct. 25, a C-130 Hercules airplane spent eight hours flying from Barrow about 1,100 miles due north, carrying 21 passengers and crew on a very dark tour of winter night and 40-below zero temperatures, according to this Coast Guard dispatch with several photos.

"This is a new area for us to do surveillance," Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, commander of the Coast Guard's Alaska district, told the Associated Press. "We're going primarily to see what's there, what ships, if any, are up there."

The larger context? Coast Guard looksee may not just about shipping safety and environmental policing. There's been a push by other Arctic nations to claim large swaths of the seabed under terms of the Law of the Sea Treaty, still unsigned by the United States.

"The flight comes as other nations have stepped up exploration and movement throughout the region," wrote Navy Times staff writer Patricia Kime in a story.

In August, Russia planted a flag in the seabed below the pole in an attempt to lay territorial claim to it. Denmark, Canada and Norway also have asserted sovereignty in the region. The region north of the Arctic Circle contains more than 2,500 miles of U.S. shoreline. It also is thought to hold 25 percent of the world's energy reserves.

This article in the Economist is a good place to start for an overview of this Arctic maneuvering.

"What looks like an unseemly dash to claim great chunks of the Arctic - the sea, the ice, and whatever lies underneath - is precisely that."

Could the United States finally be pricking up its droopy ears to threatened Arctic sovereignty? If not the United States, Russia or Canada or Norway will almost certainly control the region and enforce (or maybe ignore) environmental standards.

The AP reported that the Coast Guard "could set up an operations base in Barrow as early as next spring to monitor waters that are now free of ice for longer periods of the year."