Thick sea ice flowing from Arctic Ocean shortening shipping season in Northwest Passage, analysis finds

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An increased amount of thick sea ice flowing south from the Arctic Ocean shortened the ice-free shipping season in several parts of the Northwest Passage between 2007 and 2021, according to an analysis in Communications Earth & Environment.

The authors suggest this could mean the Northwest Passage is unlikely to become a viable alternative to traditional shipping routes, despite previous hopes that it may become viable due to global warming.

The Northwest Passage (NWP) is a commercial shipping route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that runs through the Arctic Circle north of North America. Through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA), it splits into a southern route and a shorter, preferred northern route. The length of the shipping season—the period during which the route is navigable for certain ships—for the entire NWP has been changing due to global warming.

Alison Cook and colleagues used sea ice charts from the Canadian Ice Service to calculate the number of weeks per year that each 10-kilometer section of the routes through the CAA was navigable by a PC 7 class ship (capable of safely traveling through ice up to 70cm thick) between 2007 and 2021.

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