Northwest Passage - 2015

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

My only issue with these sporting cruises (many shoestring) thru the NW passage is rescue costs. How many boats have the stores and fuel aboard to be iced in for a full 12 months?


What happens if they get stuck? In my view they would need to charter a private helicopter to come pick them up no rely on the Canadian taxpayer to bail them out.

I'm glad your opinion is not policy anywhere then, because that age old argument would have no one going anywhere.

[Matt Johnson]

Our sistership is on their way through the NW passage. They're rock climbing, skiing and free diving along the way.... crazy French!

https://www.facebook.com/maewan4

Here are a few of my favorite photos:






Matt

[Boatguy30]

Seems to me people have been going places for a long time practicing self reliance.

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

My only issue with these sporting cruises (many shoestring) thru the NW passage is rescue costs. How many boats have the stores and fuel aboard to be iced in for a full 12 months?


What happens if they get stuck? In my view they would need to charter a private helicopter to come pick them up no rely on the Canadian taxpayer to bail them out.

I'm not sure that's really a risk. There are one or two choke points and the boats tend to wait on one side or the other until the ice is clear there. This is a coastal cruise, remember.

A couple boats did decide to over-winter in Cambridge Bay last year. They were pulled out of the water onto the hard by a crane.

Boats do get stuck in ice every once in a while, for sure, but the Coast Guard Icebreakers make a detour to get them out. They're up there anyways, and it's not just pleasure craft that need the occasional help through the ice.

[DeepFrz]

The CG had to help the freighters get fuel and cargo to shore at a number of villages this year. One of the icebreakers was on a scientific voyage and had to abort and re-task.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

The CG had to help the freighters get fuel and cargo to shore at a number of villages this year. One of the icebreakers was on a scientific voyage and had to abort and re-task.

That occurred in Eastern Hudson Bay which now clear.

From NSIDC

Arctic sea ice extent is now tracking below 2010, 2013, and 2014. Openings in the ice cover have continued to expand within the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. While the Northern Sea Route has opened, the Northwest Passage remains clogged with considerable ice in the channels of the Canadian Archipelago. However, some data sources indicate narrow openings in the ice where navigation may be possible.

[Rustic Charm]

Regarding the 'risk' of this passage, there are 'risks' to sailing anywhere, unless you stay inshore in rivers.

Heading South below 40, is similar to those in the Northwest, but then sailing around the Pacific during hurricane season is also a risk.

I gladly pay my taxes to assist in rescues of sailors. It's an absolute pitence compared to the amount of money spent on some of the rubbish things our (Australian) government spends on and even more a pitence to the things the US government spends money on.

[Boatguy30]

Certainly looks to be more risk than "coastal sailing" in those photos by funjohnson

Amazing how many died in the artic exploring prior to humans impact on climate. Now either people are arguing nothing has changed or it's not at all dangerous?

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

Certainly looks to be more risk than "coastal sailing" in those photos by funjohnson

Amazing how many died in the artic exploring prior to humans impact on climate. Now either people are arguing nothing has changed or it's not at all dangerous?

Who is arguing either of that?

[hpeer]

Thanks for the info and updates. I love to see this stuff.

Don't know if it's for me. Too cold.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by SailOar

Trailer for Red Dot on the Ocean

https://vimeo.com/47936167

Purchase DVD here or purchase and download mp4 file here.

Sadly, it's not available to rent at all

[SailOar]

Charctic Interactive Sea Ice Graph | Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis


http://neptune.gsfc.nasa.gov/csb/index.php?section=234

[Ded reckoner]

Study on ice thickness in the Northwest Passage published 25Sep with snow + ice thickness measurements taken May 2011 and Apr 2015 summarizes: "These conclusions also support results of Smith and Stephenson [2013] who suggested that the NWP will not become easily navigable for another 40 years or so". Ice thickness in the Northwest Passage - Haas - 2015 - Geophysical Research Letters - Wiley Online Library

But, if it were easy, we wouldn't be seasonally glued to this thread waiting for the next update.

[SailOar]

Arctic sea ice reaches fourth lowest minimum | National Snow and Ice Data Center

On September 11, Arctic sea ice reached its likely minimum extent for 2015. The minimum ice extent was the fourth lowest in the satellite record, and reinforces the long-term downward trend in Arctic ice extent. Sea ice extent will now begin its seasonal increase through autumn and winter. In the Antarctic, sea ice extent is average, a substantial contrast with recent years when Antarctic winter extents reached record high levels...

The minimum extent was reached four days earlier than the 1981 to 2010 average minimum date of September 15. The extent ranked behind 2012 (lowest), 2007 (second lowest), and 2011 (third lowest). Moreover, the nine lowest extents in the satellite era have all occurred in the last nine years.

Both the Northern Sea Route, along the coast of Russia, and Roald Amundsen’s route through the Northwest Passage are open. How long they remain open depends on weather patterns and the amount of heat still present in the ocean mixed layer (about the top 50 feet of the ocean). The deeper and wider Northwest Passage route through Parry Channel, which consists of M’Clure Strait, Barrow Strait, and Lancaster Sound, still has some ice in it...

This year’s minimum was 1.02 million square kilometers (394,000 square miles) above the record minimum extent in the satellite era, which occurred on September 17, 2012, and 1.81 million square kilometers (699,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average minimum.

Research has shown that especially low September sea extent tends to occur in years when the summer atmospheric circulation over the central Arctic Ocean is dominated by high atmospheric pressure, or anticyclonic conditions. This is because anticyclonic conditions tend to bring relatively sunny and warm conditions, and a clockwise wind pattern promotes ice convergence, making for a more compact, and thus smaller ice cover. The best example of this pattern occurred during the summer of 2007, which had the second lowest September extent in the satellite record. Conversely, Septembers with high extent tend to occur when the atmospheric circulation over the central Arctic Ocean is more cyclonic (counterclockwise), meaning unusually low pressure at the surface. This pattern brings more clouds, lower temperatures, and winds that spread the ice over a larger area.

Viewed in this framework, the pattern of atmospheric circulation for summer 2015 as a whole (June through August) favored a low September extent. Sea level pressures were higher than average over the central Arctic Ocean, as well as over Greenland and the surrounding region. Pressures were below average over north-central Eurasia. This was associated with air temperatures at the 925 hPa level (about 3,000 feet above the surface) that were above average over much of the Arctic Ocean, especially along the coast of eastern Siberia, in the Laptev Sea, and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago extending to the pole. However, it was not nearly as favorable as the 2007 pattern, when the area of unusually high pressure was located further south and east (over the northern Beaufort Sea), and unusually low pressure extended along much of the coast of northern Eurasia. This led to a pattern of warm winds from the south over the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas, promoting strong melt and transport of ice away from the coast. For both 2015 and 2007, the summer pressure patterns led to winds directed down the Fram Strait, helping to transport ice out of the Arctic Ocean into the East Greenland Sea.

[estarzinger]

Hawk went thru - had ice in greenland, but very very little in the NWP.