The route is still blocked with ice, and that ice has fresh snow on it.
It is truly shocking to report, but it appears that the experts were wrong about this.
NY-AALESUND, Norway, May 29 (Reuters) – Shipping along the Arctic northern sea route is set to grow more than 30-fold over the next eight years and could account for a quarter of the cargo traffic between Europe and Asia by 2030, experts said on Wednesday.
Arctic Shipping To Grow As Warming Opens Northern Sea Route For Longer
Reblogged this on Health Science Watch.
Here’ an interesting thing: Tara seems to be a French 30m sailing vessel doing oceanographic research. They sailed to Franz Joseph Land, and it looks like the ice has closed in behind them.
http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=FVNM
http://oceans.taraexpeditions.org/en/a-2-5-years-marine-and-scientific-expedition.php?id_page=1
http://earthdata.nasa.gov/labs/worldview/?map=56696.029992,621620.599641,1039736.029992,1093684.599641&products=baselayers,!MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor~overlays,arctic_coastlines_3413&time=2013-08-09&switch=arctic
It looks like “Tara” is on the way home. I think I was wrong about ice closing behind them: I think that was cloud.
http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=FVNM
With about 20 icebreakers, the size of aircraft carriers, they can still do that. They just need to bomb the ice to make a channel to travel through.
Or they could just have Reggie use his Super Blow Torch! 😉
We could volunteer the nice folks at NSIDC to lead the way in a row boat.
Now I understand the climate change crap. The Europeans, where so much of this propaganda “science” exists has New Hugely Emerging Asian Market Inability to Service with Transportation, envy of the U.S., or “NHAMIST” envy. That Arctic Ice just has to melt……….