The Arctic s 21 st Century Dilemma

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1 Sources Cited The Arctic s 21 st Century Dilemma Permanent Melting of Arctic Ice is Opening Up Exciting New Maritime Opportunities; but the Potential Damage to the Region Could Prove Brutal. It s no secret at this point that global warming is responsible for causing the causing the great Arctic Ice Caps to melt. While this is disturbing news to some, it is great news to cargo shipping companies who can now navigate the Arctic waters during the summer months because of the lack of blocking ice. With the melting ice gone there are others who want to explore and exploit the natural resources that lay beneath the sea floor. In fact, in the last 3 decades the average area covered by Arctic sea ice has shrunk 15 percent. 1 And even though scientist are unclear of the exact timing, scientist do agree that sometime within the next century, the melting will be so great that vast Image Courtesy of \ amounts of ocean will be free of ice year round. 2 Now, many nations are staking their claim of the Arctic in hopes of exploring the riches that lay beneath. With the potential for massive amounts of commercial activity finding its way into the Arctic s waters, the entire region faces the potential for disaster as greed brings more companies and nations begin to fight for their piece of the pie. 21 st Century Exploring in the Arctic Just this July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent its premier surveying vessel, the Fairweather, through the unfrozen parts of the Arctic Ocean to chart the waters that have opened up due to the disappearance of sea ice. The mission was in response to commercial shipping industries, the US Navy, and the U.S. Coast Guard requesting data to replace outdated nautical charts. The new charts that will be created will supply crucial information to mariners wanting to ensure the safety of their vessels on Arctic routes. The U.S Exclusive Economic Zone encompasses 568,000 square miles and NOAA estimates that about a third of Arctic waters are now considered navigationally significant, or of some use during a portion of the year. As human activity in the Arctic expands, 21 st Century mapping technology is needed to ensure accurate regional data exists. 3

2 Page 2 21 st Century Dilemma The Northwest Passage For hundreds of years European explorers dreamed of a sea route that would take them over the North Pole rather than the long and dangerous journey south around the Cape of Africa and around India to get to the Orient. The Vikings were the first to explore the possibility that that the Arctic held a shorter passage to the other end of the world. From Henry Hudson was able to navigate the icy waters and crisscross his way around small archipelagos of islands. Additional exploration of the Arctic was done in the 1800 s and in 1905 Roald Amundsen was the first explorer to navigate the Northwest Passage. In addition, an alternate Northwest Passage route was discovered by the USS Manhattan using a ship specially designed to cut through ice in 1969 that took an even further northern route. Why is the Passage So Important? Imagine you owned a business and your business delivered thousands of tons of goods from Europe to San Francisco by ship. After buying a vessel to use for shipping the goods, your largest expense will be fuel to run that ship. Since fuel is expensive you are going to want to make point A to point B the shortest distance possible. Before the Panama Canal existed ship going from Europe to the west coast of the United States would have to travel all the way around the bottom of South America and then back north to reach its destination, crossing the equator twice just to arrive on the same hemisphere it started. That s a lot of miles! Now ships can travel through the Panama Canal, a canal built in Central America through the Isthmus of Panama, saving the trip around South America. But, that s not a very direct trip from point A to point B. Now, imagine a more direct northern route possible through the Arctic, saving you thousands of dollars in fuel expenses and making the journey much quicker. As a business owner, the Northwest Passage would be very attractive because you could offer a lower price on your goods because the shipping costs would be a lot less. However, the Arctic waters are unpredictable and icebergs are frequently found. Ships pollute as well because it is common for ships to leak small amounts of fuel as they travel. Mega-ships, maritime traffic, fuel, unpredictable weather, and ice bergs are coming together in what could be a recipe for disaster in the Arctic. Comparisons look at route from Rotterdam to San Francisco.

3 21 st Century Dilemma Page 3 Beneath the Arctic Seafloor: Vast Wealth The seafloor in the Arctic is nearly two and a half miles beneath the ice caps. And even further below the seafloor exists a natural resource treasure: oil and gas. It is estimated that nearly 30 percent of the world s undiscovered oil and gas lay beneath these melting ice caps. 3 With emerging middle classes able to afford automobiles and the known fact that we are using up natural resource quicker than ever, there is a race to extract the resources that lay deep beneath the Arctic. The melting ice in the Arctic is just one less barrier prospectors are challenged with in the race to drill. However, extracting any resource at that depth is a challenge. And then transporting any extracted resource further complicates the situation. Despite the challenges, corporations have high hopes that extraction will one day soon be a possibility. In addition, there are more than 20 companies, mainly from Australia and Canada, already exploring for gold, copper, zinc, lead, uranium, tantalum and other rare earth minerals in Greenland where glaciers are retreating and giving access to a large, ancient mineral stream. 2 Now that it is known that all these resources exist, a new cold war could start in the coming years as nations deplete their own reserves. In fact, a Russian submersible deposited a titanium capsule containing a Russian flag below the North Pole in The issue has grabbed the attention of the United Nations and the legal status of the Arctic is now being reexamined. The map to the right is of the Arctic region as if looking down from space. The United States, Denmark, Canada, Russia, and Norway each have its own claim of the Seafloor. The 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas allows each nation an exclusive economic zone 230 miles offshore from the point of low tide. With each nation holding such mineral wealth, disputes are likely to follow. In fact, the map shows areas that are already being disputed. Image Courtesy of news.bbc.co.uk

4 Page 4 21 st Century Dilemma A Not Too Optimistic Outlook for the Inuit In the northern Canadian state of Nunavut, native Inuit cultures have adapted, and thrived, for a few thousand years 6. The tribes still live in coastal villages where the sea ice, until recently, remained frozen year round. Climate change is drastically changing the way the Inuit live. In 2006, an entire village had to relocate itself further inland because of the melting ice. Land Inuit have built their buildings on once was frozen year round. Now, the land is suddenly becoming a layer of permafrost, which makes buildings sink into the soil during the summer months causing loss of stability and resulting in collapse. The Inuit survive mainly on fish that is caught during summer months and then stored during the winter months when food sources are a bit less plentiful. If the Arctic is allowed to be explored and ships are allowed to cross the Northwest Passage year round, the Intuits way of living may be completely destroyed. Imagine an oil pipeline two miles into the ocean or even a mega-ship gets struck by a floating iceberg. The environmental damage from a resulting oil spill and the difficulty of getting emergency resources to such a remote part of the world would completely decimate the Inuit. According to the Canadian Hydraulics Centre, multiyear icebergs were to blame for 74 percent of damage suffered by ships traveling the Canadian Arctic between 1976 and Despite these dangers, the Canadian government is determined to open up the Northwest Passage to safe for navigation. 7 Sadly, the Intuits future does not look so bright as its cultural identity is directly tied to the Arctic lands, the sea, and the diminishing ice. Image courtesy of Courtesty of course.washington.edu Areas in the above map show the land where Inuit live today. The above image shows a picture of an Inuit village. Warmer summers are causing the permafrost the Inuit have built on to become unstable and buildings risk collapse.

5 Sources Cited 7 Byers, Michael, and Suzanne Lalonde. our Arctic sovereignty. Globe &Mail. 1 aug. 2005: a11. Global Issues In Context. Web. 18 Nov Howard, Roger. Arctic Treasure Quest as the Sea Ice Retreats: Climate Change is Creating Opportunities to Exploit New Shipping Routes and Untapped Gas and Mineral Resources. But the Challenges are Formidable. Spectator 5 Sept. 2009: 32. Global Issues in Context. Web. 12 Oct Lalonde, Suzanne. Arctic waters: cooperation or conflict? Behind the Headlines July 2008: 8+. Global Issues In Context. Web. 13 Nov Mahr, Krista. Is the Arctic Headed for Another Cold War? Ecocentric, Time Magazine Online. 12 Oct Web. 9 Nov NOAA. NOAA Ship Fairweather Maps Aid Shipping Through Bering Straits. ScienceDaily, 21 Jul Web. 9 Nov. 2010