For the first time in human history, the North Pole can be circumnavigated
August 31st, 2008 by Jim JustMelting ice has opened North-west and North-east passages simultaneously. Scientists warn Arctic icecap is entering a ‘death spiral.’
Until recently both had been blocked by ice since the beginning of the last Ice Age. In 2005, the northeast passage opened, while the western one remained closed, and last year their positions were reversed. Images gathered by NASA show that the northwest passage opened last weekend and that the last blockage on the northeastern one – a tongue of ice stretching down to Russia across Siberia’s Laptev Sea – dissolved a few days later.
Arctic ice is now melting quickly and threatening to break last year’s record low. The ice has also been declining in thickness – thickness has dropped by half in just six years. Scientists observe that the region may be transitioning into a different climatic state where completely ice-free summers will become normal. Melting ice produces a positive feedback loop. As white ice is replaced by sea, the dark surface absorbs more heat, warming the ocean and melting more ice.