Passing the Passages

As the melting season enters its final phase our attention increasingly turns towards the opening up of the sailing and shipping routes that connect Europe and the East coast of the US to Asian harbours and markets. Potentially connect, I should say, because the Northwest Passage (on the Canadian and US side of the Arctic) and the Northern Sea Route (on the Russian side of the Arctic) do not open up every year and mostly only for a short time in August and September. Click the links for animations I have made of critical areas in both Passages. I update these images as often as conditions allow it.

The history of the Passages is too large a subject to broach and not the purpose of this post, but one thing is for sure: with the decreasing trend in sea ice area and extent in the past decade the Passages have not only been opening up more frequently, but earlier as well. In 2007 the northern/direct route of the Northwest Passage was open. In 2008 both Passages were open for the first time in recorded history.In 2009 both Passages were open again, even though the Northwest Passage was pretty clogged up with ice.

This year there's a good chance both Passages will be open. In the Northwest Passage the ice bridges broke up a few weeks ago. With all the ice shoved to one side a few days back it looked open enough already to be navigable by a sturdy ship. On the Siberian side of the Arctic the only question is whether and when the ice behind Vilkitsky Strait - which is already free of landfast ice - will disperse or get pushed towards the coast and effectively block the Northern Sea Route. The ice in the East Siberian Sea looks so grey and rotten that it will most probably not survive, even if it stays in place and doesn't get pushed aside by currents and wind.

The opening up of the Passages opens up possibilities. Accomplishing something like the passing of the Passages have always been considered heroic feats, as they are indeed. Many sailors have thus been attracted by the lure of open Passages with the legendary names of Alfred Wegener, Roald Amundsen and the St. Roch in the back of their minds. Especially the fabled Northwest Passage has seen many ships and yachts make it through safely in the past three years. The Northern Sea Route even saw a commercial ship make it through. This year will see more attempts to sail the Passages, but there is one attempt I'd like to put the spotlight on.

After many months of planning and preparation Norwegians Børge Ousland and Thorleif Thorleifsson have started a voyage that they hope takes them through both Passages during the same season. As can be read in the presentation of their expedition: Børge Ousland has more than 20 years’ experience with record-breaking Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. He was the first person to complete a solo expedition to the North Pole without re-supplying, and the first to cross the Antarctic continent alone. He is still the only person to have accomplished both feats. In 2007 he completed the expedition In the Footsteps of Nansen, a gruelling 5000-kilometre voyage from the North Pole to Oslo, via Franz Josef Land.

Thorleif Thorleifsson is a former Naval Officer – a submariner. In the last three decades he has sailed extensively in the North Atlantic, North Sea and Barents Sea. In August 2007 he sailed his yacht to Franz Josef Land to pick up Børge and his expedition partner Thomas Ulrich. Thorleifsson will be the skipper for the upcoming expedition. For the Northeastern Passage, which is to be traversed first, the third crewmember will be Russian Stanislav Kostyashkin. Frenchman Vincent Colliard will be part of the crew for the Northwestern Passage.

Here's an image of the route they are planning to follow:

 

They have modded (if I may borrow the term from PC enthusiasts) and extensively tested their Corsair 31 trimaran. The size of their vessel was chosen after careful considerations as it is exceptionally agile and has a draught of less than 40 cm which makes it very fast.

The crew set sail from Oslo on June 24th and has reached the Russian port of Murmansk where they are currently waiting for the Russian authorities to give them permission to sail the Northeast Passage. When they receive it and go on their way to navigate through the dangerous Northern Sea Route, one thing is for sure and that is that there will be none of this:

 

I'll be regularly mentioning this expedition in the SIE updates. Much more information, regular updates and videos can be found on Børge Ousland's blog. For more pictures check out his Flickr page. And here is their Youtube channel.

Good luck, you crazy Norwegians!

Comments

[logicman]

Neven: what are you, a **** telepath? ;-)

I just published my latest update. It covers the webcam queries that have been raised here, so I stopped by to comment.

By a strange coincidence my article also has some info about both NW and NE passages. Between us we have covered quite a few bases. :-)

I'll go back and add a link to this article.

http://www.science20.com/chatter_box/arctic_ice_july_update_5

[Neven]

Patrick, I could ask you the same question, haha. I swear I went over to your blog to see if you had written anything new, just as I had finished this blog post. Am reading your Arctic Ice July Update #5 as we speak.

To others reading this comment: over on logicman's blog you can get a more historic perspective on the Passages.

[Greg Wellman]

Using wind, it certainly makes sense to go counter-clockwise, and starting from Norway, that means NEP first, NWP second. But it looks like the NWP will be the first open - arguably it's open now, although I'd be cautious with such a lightweight craft. I hope the NEP opens soon enough for them to make it.

[Neven]

I hope the NEP opens soon enough for them to make it.

Me too. I'll be sure to keep an eye on that NEP the coming two weeks. Hopefully MODIS will have some clear pictures too.

For the time being they are having (small) difficulties obtaining full permission to leave Murmansk.

[Kevin McKinney]

Many times the political difficulties exceed even the real-world ones. ;-)

[Kevin McKinney]

This is strictly a bit OT, but Neven did mention Alfred Wegener, and this is about Arctic exploration more generally.

Nils Ekholm, a friend and colleague of Svante Arrhenius, had a--piquant?!--encounter with Arctic exploration in mid-career. He also wrote a fairly comprehensive review of what climate theory looked like at the beginning of the 20th century. I've got a "life, times, and work" article both of these incidents and more up here, in case some may wish to check it out.

A bit lengthy, but not, I hope, a tough read at all.