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Science

Impassable Northwest Passage Open For First Time In History 528

An anonymous reader writes "The Northwest Passage, a normally ice-locked shortcut between Europe and Asia, is now passable for the first time in recorded history reports the European Space Agency. Leif Toudal Pedersen from the Danish National Space Centre said in the article: 'We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around 3 million sq km which is about 1 million sq km less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006. There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100 000 sq km per year on average, so a drop of 1 million sq km in just one year is extreme.'"
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Impassable Northwest Passage Open For First Time In History

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  • by Dachannien ( 617929 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:06PM (#20619781)
    I'm sure the Northwest Passage Cruise Line vacation scam spams will begin soon.
  • Time to buy (Score:5, Funny)

    by downix ( 84795 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:14PM (#20619837) Homepage
    that prime waterfront property in Kansas....

  • Huh. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:15PM (#20619851)
    What could cause this?
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:19PM (#20619893)

    it's a real boon to nautical industries like shipping and such. There just aren't that many ways around continents. Having an extra option is great.

     
    Plus, those big ships'll have a shorter route on which to belch their nasty so-called "greenhouse gasses" (and will, therefore, not pollute as much!); this could be the best thing to happen to the environment in 30 years!!
  • by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:24PM (#20619945) Journal
    Where is Linux gonna get a new mascot when their home is gone?

    -1 wrong pole

           
  • whoa. (Score:3, Funny)

    by apodyopsis ( 1048476 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:25PM (#20619955)
    all this global warming, freak weather and now the northwest passage is open? I'm losing my faith in coincidences here...
  • by ScrewMaster ( 602015 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:30PM (#20619995)
    Because trying to get through it is a rite of passage for any competent explorer.
  • by Nymz ( 905908 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:34PM (#20620043) Journal

    I think history goes back a tiny bit further than 30 years, especially since I am older than that.
    But evidence of Global Warming doesn't.
  • Re:Huh. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15, 2007 @07:58PM (#20620267)
    IRAQ!
  • by gelfling ( 6534 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @08:07PM (#20620341) Homepage Journal
    To turn your virgin children into islamofascists. I'm sure I saw this on Fox. No no no a thousand times no. If Global Warming were caused by man God would have given us gills.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15, 2007 @08:41PM (#20620641)
    This laptop is powered entirely by my own sense of self-satisfaction.
  • by Bluesman ( 104513 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @08:42PM (#20620647) Homepage
    Congratulations on your Mac purchase :-)
  • by MBraynard ( 653724 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @08:45PM (#20620673) Journal
    That regional changes in weather patterns, including temperature, occur, is not disputed. That we are in an actual warming phase - globally - is in question and that it is caused by Al Gore jetting around in a private plane is an article of faith.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15, 2007 @09:31PM (#20620977)
    oh fuck me

    this is worse than the OP

    at least the OP was obviously fake/troll/spam/what-the-fuck-ever

    but yours is disturbingly real
  • Re:Cool! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ozmanjusri ( 601766 ) <aussie_bob@hoMOSCOWtmail.com minus city> on Saturday September 15, 2007 @09:31PM (#20620979) Journal
    it's a real boon to nautical industries like shipping and such.

    ...and the new midwest passage will be a real boon for shipping stuff to Minneapolis too.

  • You make a good post and get intelligent responses. Yet some moderator thinks it is not politically correct and mods you a troll.

    I get moderator points quite frequently and recently there are few occasions where I am not using some of them to reverse stupid moderation! Gawd moderators, Get real? Why do you want to suppress the contrarian point of view? Is it against your religeon or something?

    The truth with regard to global warming is that planetary climate change is due to a number of factors and these include the distribution of the continents, the amount of land at high elevation (Ie mountains and plateaus like the Colorado and Tibetian), ocean currents an connections between oceans like for instance the Isthmus of Panama.

    CO2 levels are not linked to climate change in the geological record. One would think they would be if CO2 is a significant factor.

    Yet of those who wish for a change in the way we live and use the non-renewable resources of Mother earth... and recognize that burning fossil fuels is both unsustainable and does add CO2 to the atmosphere... well - for these people yes, it would be correct to recognize that if we adopt a sustainable life style then at the same time we might reduce CO2 emissions.

    Yet - this observation does not mean that climate change if it exists is necessarily linked to Co2 emissions.

    I will say this. I think those who feel this way are going to get their wish.

    The best information I have is that the world's oil production peaked in September of last year. Is this information published? Well - not really. The media has not picked up on it. Why? Because you don't get good information from the media.

    My sources are very reliable. But I will caution that we need to go 5 more years past peak before we can confidently look in the mirror and say we are past peak. Even then, something unexpected could happen like finding that oil is abiogenic and there is an ocean of it sitting under say the Alberta Tar sands.

    If the preliminary data is correct and we are past peak then those who want us to drive less and emit less CO2 will get their wish. This still doesn't mean that CO2 driven climate change exists.

    I will point out that anyone who is really concerned about CO2 emissions should open the walls of their house and increase the insulation to about R50 in the walls and R70 in the ceiling and that they can do this during construction for about $1 buk per square foot of building envelop.

    Until I see people do this I will not listen to their concerns... why? Because unless someone is concerned enough to actually do what is in their power to do - then I do not think they are much more than a hypocrite. Sorry - but that is just the way it is.

    End of rant.

    Now if we could get rid of this bad moderation.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 15, 2007 @10:17PM (#20621293)
    According to the guide at the Ziggurat, [wikipedia.org] Iraq is at least hoping to be touristable in the next decade or so.
  • Re:Huh. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Foobar of Borg ( 690622 ) on Saturday September 15, 2007 @10:22PM (#20621341)

    IRAQ!
    Of course. Where else do you think Saddam Hussein hid the Weapons of Mass Destruction? He had to hide them in the artic, where we would least expect them. He was fiendishly clever, that Saddam.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16, 2007 @12:11AM (#20622021)
    So, can we get those beachfront properties in Siberia before they all gone?
    I heard that surf is going to pick up really fast, with all that swell from the mega oil ships going from Europe to Russia.
    "Surf in the (former)USSR"
  • by edittard ( 805475 ) on Sunday September 16, 2007 @05:22AM (#20623661)
    Bah! In my day we used to walk the Northwest passage, barefoot. Once I got three quarters of the way there, ran out of food had to turn round and go home. And it was uphill both ways.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16, 2007 @08:41AM (#20624619)

    but where there people their EVERY year
    Clearly you meant "EVER year."

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