the unwound road

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.
                                    “Northwest Passage”, by Stan Rogers

Canada has one of the longest coastlines in the world. Although it borders on three oceans, until recently, it hasn’t paid much attention to the mostly frozen Arctic Ocean at its back door. That is now beginning to change.

Under the United Nations Law of the Sea convention, signed by Canada in 2003, coastal countries can extend their sovereignty beyond the usual 200-nautical mile limit recognized in international law if the seabed is an extension of the continental shelf.  Since Canada ratified the convention in 2003, it has until 2013 to submit scientific evidence to extend that limit.

That potentially gives Canada claim to an area the size of the Prairie provinces that could contain natural gas, oil and other resources. Canadian scientists are struggling against unpredictable ice conditions to map the ocean floor.

However, the resource-rich Lomonosov Ridge, which runs between Greenland and Russia, will be a bone of contention. Russia is claiming this undersea mountain range is part of Russian territory. In 2006, Canada and Denmark cooperated in a mapping project to try to show that the structure of the undersea Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of the North American continent.

Canadian attention is also focused strongly on the ownership of the Northwest Passage. This past summer, satellite images showed that the passage between Canada’s arctic islands was ice-free for the first time in recorded history. And there are predictions that the it may be open for much of the summer in as little as 15 years.

If these predictions come true, the Northwest Passage could become a busy shipping route. The Northwest Passage is 7,000 kilometres shorter than the current shipping route through the Panama Canal. That’s about two weeks saved in travelling time.

Under the UN Law of the Sea, all ships are guaranteed passage through international straits. Should the winding Northwest passage between the northern islands be considered an international strait, or part of Canadian waters? Perhaps the best solution is to open the passage and govern it, as Nunavut resident Paul Kaludjak suggests: “The best way to have our sovereignty accepted by the international community is not to restrict entry to territory, but to facilitate use of it in accord with Canadian regulations.”

The Arctic lands are the traditional home of the Inuit nations, and their livelihoods depend on the rich resources in the harsh northern habitat. The Canadian Rangers, who patrol and police the North, are predominantly Inuit. Whatever decisions are made about the Arctic will affect the environment and the livelihood of these northern peoples.

The goal of the UN Law of the Sea is to share the ocean resources fairly between coastal countries. We don’t need a cold war over the Arctic; there’s room for everyone to “play nice” as long as environmental studies and regulations are put in place first.

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Related LInks:
…Or Something (blog): “Geology, geopolitics, and the Law of the Sea“
Nunatsiaq News: “Measuring Mountains Under the Sea”
Seed: “Deep Space: The last great land rush on the planet will be at the bottom of the ocean”
Geology.com: “Northwest Passage — Map of Arctic Sea Ice”
CBC: “Canada’s Arctic claim work challenged by ice, logistics”
National Post: “Canada’s Arctic mapping key to resource claims”
CBC In Depth: “Canada’s Arctic sovereignty: Drawing a line in the water”
“Sovereignty and Inuit in the Canadian Arctic”
Wired: “Today, Countries Battle for a Piece of the Arctic. Tomorrow? The Moon”
CBC In Depth: “The Northwest Passage: The Arctic Grail”
CBC multimedia: “Breaking the Ice: Canada and the Northwest Passage”

Concerns about climate change and interest in polar ecosystems go hand-in-hand in the Canadian Arctic, and this year, students, journalists and scientists around the world are participating in a global research program. The classroom is the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Amundsen, a scientific research icebreaker locked in the ice in the Beaufort Sea near Banks Island.

The CCGS Amundsen is hosting one of the largest IPY research projects being conducted in the Canadian Arctic during International Polar Year (2007-2008): the Circumpolar Flaw Lead (CFL) system study. The $40-million project is examining the circumpolar flaw lead system — areas of open water in the ice — which is expected to show how the Arctic might change as the global climate grows warmer.

What makes this project unique is that, not only does it involve more than 200 scientists from 15 different countries, but also high school students, teachers, and Inuit youth leaders from Canada, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, England, Germany, Spain, China, Russia, and Greenland. The students and teachers have the opportunity to board the icebreaker and participate in an experiential science education program aimed at introducing them to the scientific and indigenous knowledge related to climate change research in the Arctic.

I first heard about the Schools on Board program from a blog written by Emily Chung, the CBC.ca’s regional journalist for Ottawa. She is one of 15 journalists from around the world selected and sponsored by the World Federation of Science Journalists invited to spend seven days on the Amundsen. Her trip is finished, but another group will be joining the Amundsen from April 12 - 27, 2008. A final program, designed for Inuit and Indigenous students and educators, will run from July 15 - 27, 2008.

Schools on Board is an outreach program of Arctic marine science and research, based out of the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Canada). It was developed to bridge Arctic research with science education in high schools across Canada; to increase awareness of issues related to climate change in Canada, and to excite young Canadians about the challenges and career opportunities of Arctic research. The main thrust of the program is the Field Program “on board” the CCGS Amundsen.

Programming “onboard” includes presentations, group projects, lab activities, fieldwork, and lectures with graduate students and scientists. Students are introduced to subjects such as: oceanography, physical geography, biology, chemistry, meteorology, zoology, geology, and climatology.

The educational program also introduces participants to “two ways of knowing” – the traditional and scientific approaches to understanding the complexities and interconnectedness of the Arctic environment. Each trip includes at least one northern community visit to introduce participants to northern culture and knowledge.

This program is a wonderful example of international cooperation between Canada and our northern neighbours. Let’s hope this trend continues as the Arctic region ecosystem faces increased warming as part of climate change, and the circumpolar countries face increased pressure for access to traffic and resource extraction.

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Tara returned to her home in Lorient, France, this past Saturday after having spent more than 500 days drifting across the High Arctic. The specially equipped schooner travelled almost 4,000 kilometres with the pack ice across the Arctic Ocean as scientists on board fed climate change data to 48 European laboratories.

Her voyage began in September 2006, when an icebreaker helped position the schooner north of Siberia. The rounded reinforced aluminum hull of the 116-foot Tara allowed her to remain frozen safely from the extreme pressures applied by the pack-ice. During her journey, Tara got as close as 160 km to the North Pole. When a pool of water formed around Tara on Jan. 20, 2008, Tara’s captain started her engines and started pushed between sheets of shifting ice on the way out to open water and home.

The expedition, organized by the Damocles climate change research program in the context of the International Polar Year, was designed to study the relationship between sea ice coverage, atmospheric conditions, the circulation of Arctic Ocean waters, and the impact changes may have on the natural system and the human activities that depend on it.

The expedition was a wonderful example of eco-responsibility. For energy, Tara had electric generators supplemented by two wind turbines placed on the ice and a dozen solar panels. All unnecessary plastics were eliminated; iron, glass and organic waste was placed in a hole maintained in the pack ice; paper products were burned; a small amount of waste was stored to be disposed of on Tara’s return home; and toilets were set up on the ice so as not to contaminate the environment — part of this organic waste will remain frozen in the ice as it drifts to the Greenland Sea, where it will be gradually released into the warmer waters and broken down by natural processes.

Scientists onboard Tara monitored the ocean, the atmosphere and the ice. Last year, measurements revealed the springtime collapse of surface ozone in the Arctic for the first time. Scientists also discovered dramatic evidence of climate change in the year-round ice, which is only one-metre thick in places. The polar ice surface has diminished between 8 and 10% in the past 30 years, and the pack ice has lost 45% of its thickness during the same time

A floating laboratory like Tara may now be the only way to safely study conditions in the Arctic because of the shrinking pack ice. Clearly, many cultures and creatures depending on ice for survival are at risk; it’s no wonder there are so many problems with polar bears travelling inland to search for food. Warming in the north will help shipping and resource extraction, but at what price? Canada needs to do more than state its sovereignty over the northern passage. All the countries which border the Arctic Ocean will need to work together to ensure that this sensitive environment is protected.

Click here to hear the sound of ice pressing on Tara’s hull.

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Related Links:
Tara Expedition homepage
Tara breaks free
Damocles homepage