Melting ice creates new ocean and possible future shipping routes

A new navigable ocean is opening up as global warming melts ice on Alaska’s Arctic, allowing oil tankers, fishing vessels and even cruise ships to enter the region.

The melting ice has raised speculation that Canada’s Northwest Passage, which links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, could one day become a regular shipping route. There is also huge potential for undiscovered natural resources in the region. In anticipation of increased traffic, the Coast Guard has now opened two temporary stations on the nation’s northernmost waters, saying that one day, there will be an ocean the size as the USA, during summers that are mostly ice-free. However, the Coast Guard is concerned that the increased volume of shipping would cause a greater potential for oil spills, lost boaters and other mishaps. There is also, of course, the concern that the warming climate has disrupted the ancient way of life in the region where hunters have traditionally used floating ice as platforms to hunt marine mammals such as bowhead whales and walruses. Polar bears have also become the first species to be declared as threatened due to climate change.
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