billvon 3,075 #1 September 17, 2007 And you can now ship stuff by sea by going across the top of the globe, instead of going through Panama. Countries are already scrambling to claim mineral rights in the newly open waters of the North Pole. ======================== Outside Magazine September 14, 2007 Northwest Passage Open It's a picture to make Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook melt. A satellite shot of the Arctic showing an ice-free passage from the Beaufort Sea near Alaska to North of Baffin Island. The Northwest Passage is open, thanks to record shrinkage of the polar ice cap. Since satellite measurements of ice were taken almost 30 years ago, the ice covers it's smallest area in recorded history, only 1,160,000 square miles. After average ice loss of about 39,000 square miles in the last 10 years, this year is a whopper. Roughly 390,000 square miles of ice were lost, a tenfold increase. If this shrinkage continues, courtesy of climate change, the deep waters to the north of the United States and Canada will provide a nice short route for large ocean tankers to travel. Probably not the best news for Panama, which is spending billions of dollars to widen and deepen its famous canal for those same ships. ============================= Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DZJ 0 #2 September 17, 2007 Hooray for global warming! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NCclimber 0 #3 September 17, 2007 QuoteAnd you can now ship stuff by sea by going across the top of the globe, instead of going through Panama. Can? Now? Which shipping companies are doing this, now? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,075 #4 September 17, 2007 >Which shipping companies are doing this, now? None. You CAN do it. Doesn't mean anyone IS doing it - yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,563 #5 September 17, 2007 Quote No exaggeration here. NCclimber - hater of all things hyperbolic.You're so consistent, it's one of the things I like best about you.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
FallRate 0 #6 September 17, 2007 If all of those poor souls who died of malaria had just waited. Seems such a waste. FallRate Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NCclimber 0 #7 September 17, 2007 Quote >Which shipping companies are doing this, now? None. You CAN do it. Doesn't mean anyone IS doing it - yet. I "can now ship stuff by sea by going across the top of the globe"? Since no one is doing it, how can I do it? Just because something might be navigable in a small craft, that doesn't automatically make it a shipping lane. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrewwhyte 1 #8 September 17, 2007 Quote I "can now ship stuff by sea by going across the top of the globe"? Since no one is doing it, how can I do it? You buy a ship and order the Captain to 'take 'er through.' That's how. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NCclimber 0 #9 September 17, 2007 Quote Quote I "can now ship stuff by sea by going across the top of the globe"? Since no one is doing it, how can I do it? You buy a ship and order the Captain to 'take 'er through.' That's how. Theoretically. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,563 #10 September 17, 2007 QuoteSince no one is doing it, how can I do it? Take the initiative, be a pioneer! Someone always has to be the first to do something.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,563 #11 September 17, 2007 Quote Theoretically. That is exactly the point!Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 34 #12 September 17, 2007 Quote Hooray for global warming! As long as you don't live on the coast, you're fine. "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,075 #13 September 17, 2007 >Since no one is doing it, how can I do it? Get a big ship, sail it across the top of the globe. If you want. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,106 #14 September 17, 2007 Quote Quote >Which shipping companies are doing this, now? None. You CAN do it. Doesn't mean anyone IS doing it - yet. I "can now ship stuff by sea by going across the top of the globe"? Since no one is doing it, how can I do it? Just because something might be navigable in a small craft, that doesn't automatically make it a shipping lane. Of course YOU can do it. Just buy a ship.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,106 #15 September 17, 2007 Quote It's a picture to make Sir Francis Drake and Captain James Cook melt. A satellite shot of the Arctic showing an ice-free passage from the Beaufort Sea near Alaska to North of Baffin Island. What about poor old Franklin and his crew?... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kelpdiver 2 #16 September 17, 2007 think of all the natural resources that will be saved taking this much shorter route from Asia to Europe. The reduced carbon will rebalance and the passage will promptly refreeze. First thing that comes to my mind on this is the Titanic, a ship dwarfed by the super tankers of today. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,075 #17 September 17, 2007 >The reduced carbon will rebalance and the passage will promptly refreeze. Perhaps! And if it refreezes so rapidly that oil tankers (and their carbon-laden cargoes) are trapped therein, perhaps the sudden CO2 deficit will propel the world into a new ice age. When the ice recedes, of course, we will see the emergence of the Planet of the Apes, as the latest biblical-code prediction foretells. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Darius11 12 #18 September 17, 2007 Maybe I missed it but is the melting not a much bigger point then the size of ship you can sail threw it? I know there is a lot of nitpicking going on but I mean really come onI'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not." - Kurt Cobain Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,075 #19 September 17, 2007 >but is the melting not a much bigger point then the size of ship you can sail threw it? Indeed. We lost over a million square KM of ice this year; average is around 100,000 square kilometers. The now-open northwest passage is just one (minor) effect of the melt. But it's still pretty interesting; a new shipping lane! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
livendive 8 #20 September 17, 2007 Quote Since no one is doing it, how can I do it? Such a sentiment brings to mind the adage "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." I just got done beating on an empty water bottle with two chopsticks. I don't know if anyone else in the world was doing that, and I don't care. Blues, Dave"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sv3n 0 #21 September 17, 2007 Quote Hooray for global warming! Come on now.....global warming is just a myth, the oil companies said so....and you're in violation of your face! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
masterrig 1 #22 September 17, 2007 Quote Quote Hooray for global warming! Come on now.....global warming is just a myth, the oil companies said so. Yeah! who you gonna believe? Chuck Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cloudseeker2001 0 #23 September 18, 2007 Quote If all of those poor souls who died of malaria had just waited. Seems such a waste. FallRate that is terrible! But, like war, they must die so that we may live! "Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance, others mean and rueful of the western dream" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andrewwhyte 1 #24 September 18, 2007 QuoteHooray for global warming! I live on the very northern fringe of the North American agriculture belt. I figure I can make a bundle as we expand with the new climate. My big conundrum is this: Should we maximize short term income by pulping as we deforest the north or maximize greenhouse gases by burning it all? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,075 #25 September 18, 2007 >My big conundrum is this: Should we maximize short term income >by pulping as we deforest the north or maximize greenhouse gases by >burning it all? Why not do both? Deforest everything, make a ton of money, start doing coke (or meth, or some other hip drug) while the money lasts. Then when the forests run out you won't care! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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