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Ben Preiss
Northwest Passage Opens - Global Warming Melts Ice
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The route long sought by explorers as a way to get from North America to Asia and Europe has opened. Before the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt and the Panama Canal in Panama this route would have saved huge amounts time and still can on some routes. Satellite photos reveal that enough Arctic ice has melted to enable navigation of the route.
“The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos this month taken together showed an ice-free passage along northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland, and ice retreating to its lowest level since such images were first taken in 1978,” Yahoo news reported.
The waters are exposing unexplored resources, and vessels could trim thousands of miles from Europe to Asia by bypassing the Panama Canal. The seasonal ebb and flow of ice levels has already opened up a slim summer window for ships.
Leif Toudal Pedersen, of the Danish National Space Center, said that Arctic ice has shrunk to some 1 million square miles. The previous low was 1.5 million square miles, in 2005.
(news.yahoo)
Read More: ctv Via: news.yahoo
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