“It was an exciting day for all in the Arctic and we were ecstatic to be able to post a press release that linked our achievement to climate change and [a] melting polar icecap.”
—Edvin Buregren, after sailing through the Northwest Passage, August 29, 2012
Ever since Sir Robert McClure discovered the true Northwest Passage in 1851, traversing the islands throughout northern Canada, the idea of a better way to connect the eastern and western hemispheres has been a dream for commercial travel. Sir Robert McClure was the first to successfully make his way through the passage, but he had to do it with a combination of boat and sled. For his role in history, part of the passage is now known as the McClure Strait. (McClure Crater on the Moon is also named after him.)
The first successful expedition to cross through the passage by sea alone was Roald Amundsen during a three-year journey from 1903-1906. Generally the journey is extremely tough to make, and ice tends to interfere with it being a practical solution for transportation. In fact, it really wasn’t until there was a major loss of Arctic sea ice over the last few years that even allowed it to be at all feasible as a navigable route.
Of course, global warming has been changing all of that. Just last week I posted how this year’s Arctic ice melt has been the greatest extent of ice loss ever recorded since we’ve been able to keep track of our North Pole. (In my book “Comprehending the Climate Crisis,” I talked about the possibility of the the Northwest Passage opening up more easily with less sea ice getting in the way, leading some people to consider it a desirable benefit of global warming.) News of the year’s dramatic reduction in sea ice made headlines all over the world, and gave some adventurous men an idea.
This past week, history was made when three sailors in a 31-foot fibreglass sailboat dubbed “Belzebub II” sailed their way through the passage. According to their website, “In doing so we hope to bring about greater awareness to the changing climate of the Arctic as well as highlight never before explored areas by sailboat.” They made their way through the McClure Strait, named after Sir Robert himself.
The sailors are Edvin Buregren from Sweden, Nicolas Peissel from Canada, and Morgan Peissel from the US. Once they learned about the dramatic drop in sea ice reported last week, they made their decision to go for it.
In their own words posted on their website: “The decision was made in a heartbeat and we headed into the narrow passage filled with excitement and trepidation at what awaited us. We moved as quickly as possible knowing that we would have no time to waste during this short window; we only had 36 hours before the strait would close again.”
The trip was certainly arduous. Walls of ice surrounded them, and as they continued forward, walls of ice closed the passages they had just left behind. But they managed to accomplish their goal to many accolades. They now continue on toward Alaskan waters and the Bering Strait.
Here’s a video capturing them making their way out of the McClure Strait.
I applaud these brave men and the history they have made. But it’s sad that a sailboat can now make its way through the Northwest Passage at all. In fact, in years to come, it will probably become an adventure that anyone can pay some company to experience, similar to climbing Mt. Everest or even travelling into space. Only in the case of sailing through the Northwest Passage, it’s not because of improved technology, or a well-oiled routine that makes it available to the public. It’s due to a changing planet. Indeed, in the decades to come, it’s quite possible the challenge won’t be a challenge at all as Arctic sea ice continues to diminish during the summer months, perhaps to disappear altogether someday.
And we’re the ones making it possible.
They travelled 3000 miles in a sailboat in 3 weeks? Thats a pretty fast pace – especially needing to carry supplies of food and water.
Their website (http://belzebub2.com/home?lang=en) contains all of their posts describing their journey. Much of July was spent along the coast of Greenland, but it does seem that they’ve made a good pace through the Northwest Passage, I agree. Good thing too when they only had 36 hours to get through that portion of the McClure Strait before ice closed in on them.
Timing is everything. Had these sailors been born during the Holocene Optimum period, they would have had almost no ice to ice-free conditions for such a journey during numerous summers over a 6,000 year period.
True enough. The warmest period of that era was over 8,000 years ago. My point is more to the fact that in the span of one lifetime we have seen dramatic loss of sea ice and for entirely different reasons than what haapened during the Holocene Climate Optimum. That particular warming period is attributed to Milankovitch cycles, something I describe in my book and elsewhere on this blog. Because Earth’s tilt was 24 degrees back then, and the summer for the northern hemisphere occurred at our closest approach to the sun in our planet’s orbit (i.e. perhelion), it is estimated that the North Pole received about eight percent more solar radiation than it does currently. In contrast, our perhelion now occurs in the middle of the northern hemishere’s winter, and our axial tilt is closer to 23 degrees, both of which would help minimize the chance of any sort of similar occurrence in the present day.
Perhaps I would have been more clear to say that this sail should never have been possible in the modern era, not until Milankovitch cycles allow for them again many thousands of years in the future. But I believe the point is made: this ice loss can’t be attributed to the same sort of reasons our planet has experienced ice loss before. It helps to support that anthropogenic global warming is indeed taking place.
The “sailboat” is equipped with a 30hp diesel engine which the “explorers” are a bit coy about when it was used.
To describe their dash through a narrow, lead of 3/10 ice, open for a brief 36 hr window, which they were only able to see because of near real time satellite mapping, in a boat bristling with advanced equipment as possible, ” not because of improved technology”, is ridiculous and an insult to the crew of HMS Investigator whose 1853 wreck they passed, halfway through McClure Straight.
Had Investigator had radar, satellite links, GPS, overnight parts flown by Fedex halfway around the world, diesel power, electric light, Canadian rescue backup, aircraft surveillance,who knows how far they might have gone.
What is the reference to polar cap(s)?? Their is only one, the Antarctic, where average total ice area has been steadily growing for the whole of the satellite era.
As to their purpose in “raising awareness” about declining Arctic sea ice minima, this looks more like promoting their sponsors and soliciting donations. We have had saturation coverage including the prediction in 2008 that the Arctic will be ice free by next year.
.Belzebub’s crew might also have collected more honour if it had not taken them nearly a week with some prodding to acknowledge they were following (probably guided by radar contact) the solo sailor David Cowper in Polar Bound, making his 6th or 7th transit of the NW Passage in 30 years.
Thanks for your comments. I wasn’t sure if your biggest concern was the sailors’ achievement, my description of it, or the reference to global warming.
As to what these sailors achieved, I’ll leave it to history to decide how significant it is. I think it’s better than Barry Bonds achieving the most home runs in history, but I agree that they have a great deal helping their accomplishment. I myself am impressed with their feat.
My reference “not because of improved technology” was not to what these men accomplished, so no insult was intended to past expeditions. It was in reference to a prediction that in years to come, anyone with enough money will be able to pay an expedition company to do the same thing, and the main reason that will be possible will be the loss of Arctic sea ice rather than the technology. Sorry that wasn’t more clear.
As for Antarctica, it’s very different from the Arctic. One is a continent surrounded by an ocean and covered by kilometres of ice, the other is a floating ice cube. Antarctica’s surface is at a much higher altitude than the North Pole due to the ice. As Reuters reported on this issue in 2008 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/09/12/us-climate-polar-idUSLC65229120080912):
“The U.N. Climate Panel says it is at least 90 percent sure that people are stoking global warming — mainly by burning fossil fuels. But it says each region will react differently. A key difference is that Arctic ice floats on an ocean and is warmed by shifting currents and winds from the south. By contrast, Antarctica is an isolated continent bigger than the United States that creates its own deep freeze. The air temperature in Antarctica has increased very little compared to the Arctic,” said Ola Johannessen, director of the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Norway. “The reason is you have a huge ocean surrounding the land.”
Apologies for being obscure. I am afraid it is congenital.
I understood you to say that improved technology has no responsibility for the increasing traffic through these waters: http://www.nauticapedia.ca/Articles/NWP_Fulltransits.php
I think improved technology has a great deal to do with it and the increasing military and commercial interest of the last 60 years has been certainly massivly spiked by eco tourists whose “awareness” has been raised in the last couple of decades.
http://northwestpassage2012.blogspot.ca/2012/09/the-world-gets-green-light-to-transit.html
I also have issues with this particular group as well as other publicity seeking “expeditions” that do not contribute to scientific knowledge but seem more about good at attracting attention and money on the current wave. They also have been far less than truthful about their actual route:
http://northwestpassage2012.blogspot.ca/2012/09/20120905-sv-belzebub2-posts-revised.html
See also the Canadian Ice map for the 28th in this post: http://northwestpassage2012.blogspot.ca/2012/08/world-record-dated-20120829-captain.html
to realize how lucky they were to see the thin sliver of green 3/10th along the shore..for a few hours. This would have been impossible without constant satellite mapping.
“,,,melting polar icecap[s].” plural in the second line led me to believe you also thought Arctic ice was not floating. Glad to know this is not the case.
I wonder why there is no interest in the increasing ice area in the Antarctic, the bitterly cold and wet Antipodean winter conditions which are the flip side of the warm dry central US this year?
Thank you for the polite and measured tone of your blog.
Thanks for the detailed response including references. As for me being polite with a measured tone, I figure there are enough people out there speaking to these issues with emotions louder than facts that the world doesn’t need one more. I care most about the truth, and am always keen to learn more of it, so thank you for sharing.
P.S. I have corrected my misquote for Mr. Buregren. Given that English isn’t his first language, I added the [s] when I shouldn’t have. My apologies.