adn.com | environment : Coast Guard plans for Arctic base in Barrow
Just something I would share with everyone. The US government(not that I think its a bad thing) is putting itself in the best situation possible to exploit global warming and specifically the opening of a northwest passage. But that global warming nontheless. I will just point out that the town in question Barrow. Is on the very northern coast of Alaska. There is no colder place in America.
A Coast Guard reconnaissance team is heading to the far north this week to scope out a final frontier that is opening up to ship traffic in a warming Arctic climate.

The Coast Guard plans to set up an operations base in Barrow as early as next spring to monitor waters now free of ice for longer periods. Weather permitting, a scouting crew will fly the 1,183-mile trek from the northernmost U.S. town to the North Pole today.

"This is a new area for us to do surveillance," said Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, commander of the Coast Guard's Alaska district. "We're going primarily to see what's there, what ships, if any, are up there."

Thinning ice has made travel along the northern coast increasingly attractive, said Brooks, who plans to accompany the crew in the C-130 flight. Tankers and even cruise ships are beginning to venture into the domain once traveled only by indigenous hunters and research vessels such as the Coast Guard icebreaker Healy.

The ice cap is believed to be warming faster than the rest of the world and shipping routes could become a reality in the Arctic much sooner than previously expected. Recent studies suggest that could happen in as little as a decade. Just a few years ago scientists predicted it would take a century for the ice to melt.

Another lure is the huge potential for resource

So what exactly is the problem here?

Global warming? To tell you truth I'm always a little bit cold, anyway.

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I think the larger issue is that there now exists at least in the summer a clear Northwest passage through the Arctic ocean. Meaning thier are navigable and ice free waters that allowed large ships to trasit from the Atlantic ocean to the pacific.
This is the first time in the history of known man where this has existed.

Interesting that this didn't exist when Greenland was actually green.

Kramer

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It hasnt been in the history of "known man"
Also the Russians are begining to explore potential natural gas pockets as well. I am not sure of all the details on that issue. But it does come at considerable concern to the US government.

LMAO!! And when was Greenland actually green? You do know that Eric the Red named it to get people to believe it was a good place to live.

If you do a quick google on the subject you'll find that the ice cap on Greenland is hundreds of thousand of years old and covers 95% of the surface. Hardly within the scope of what you are inferring. Also, if Greenalnd was green in mans recent history, does this mean Iceland was ice back then as well?


"Greenland has the world's second largest ice cap, a remnant of the last ice age. It is 3000 metres high and contains 2.85 million cubic kilometres of ice."