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‘Spectacular’ 1,000 kilometre-long crack rips across ice in Canada’s Beaufort Sea
The ice in Canada’s western Arctic ripped open in a massive “fracturing event” this spring that spread like a wave across 1,000 kilometres of the Beaufort Sea.
Huge leads of water – some more than 500 kilometres long and as much as 70 kilometres across – opened up from Alaska to Canada’s Arctic islands as the massive ice sheet cracked as it was pushed around by strong winds and currents.
“It took just seven days for the fractures to progress across the entire area from west to east,” said Trudy Wohlleben, senior ice forecaster at the Canadian Ice Service.
She said it was “spectacular” to watch from Ottawa, where she and her colleagues track the ice with satellites. (NASA)
Stephen Harper renews hunt for Franklin ships long lost to the Arctic depths
The search for the remnants of an ill-fated British expedition that failed to cross the Northwest Passage — and a seminal moment in Canada’s history on Arctic sovereignty — will start anew.
In the coming weeks, a group of researchers will scour Canada’s Arctic waters to find Sir John Franklin’s two ships, Erebus and the Terror, led by a ship named for an Arctic researcher who perished in a plane crash last year.
The renewal of Parks Canada’s search for the lost Franklin vessels, follows three recent federal expeditions that failed to locate Erebus and Terror but ruled out huge swaths of the Arctic Ocean seabed as possible resting places for the sunken ships.
New proposal would see Hans Island split equally between Canada and Denmark
Canada and Denmark appear close to agreement in their festering territorial dispute over Hans Island, with an amicable plan for both countries to split ownership of the tiny, barren rock in the Arctic being put forward.
A plan to divide the island — a 1.3 square kilometre rock between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and Greenland, a self-governing territory under the Danish crown — through the middle would give Canada a second foreign land border and settle a spat that captured international attention as much for its absurdity as its potential seriousness. (Photo: Wikipedia/HDMS Triton Newsletter)
Photos of the day
Leonardo da Vinci’s The Vitruvian Man is recreated by artist John Quigley for Greenpeace on the Arctic sea ice, to highlight the fact that the Arctic is melting and the need for world leaders need to take urgent action on climate change. This September could mark the lowest sea ice minimum on record. (Nick Cobbing/Greenpeace)
NWT aviation company plans for fleet of futuristic blimps to haul cargo
For one Northwest Territories aviation company, the future is blimps. Last week, Yellowknife-based Discovery Air signed a preliminary agreement with British aviation startup Hybrid Air Vehicles to buy a fleet of futuristic dirigibles to haul cargo and supplies across the Canadian North
Costing $40-million each, the massive vehicles will be able to haul 50 tonnes of cargo, stay in the air for several weeks at a time and use a fraction of the fuel consumed by standard fixed-wing airliners.
Denmark set to claim North Pole: report
The race to lay claim to the North Pole — in which Canada has a stake — has been stepped up with reports suggesting that Denmark will hoist a symbolic flag over the top of the world next month.
According to Danish media reports, Denmark will make an official claim for the territorial rights over the North Pole before a UN deadline set for 2014.
They cite a leaked draft of the country’s official strategy for the Arctic, in which the Danish government states that annexation of the North Pole will be one of Denmark’s official policy objectives. (AFP PHOTO/HO/NASA/GETTY OUT)
