Early Winter Ice Halts Arctic Shipping Traffic Weeks Ahead of Schedule
{Early Winter Ice Halts Arctic Shipping. Climate Change deniers will grasp this firmly as incontrovertible scientific evidence that the climate is fine. Earth and Leaf Editorial, extract below}
Early Winter Ice Halts Arctic Shipping Traffic Weeks Ahead of Schedule
The summer shipping window on Russia’s Northern Sea Route is coming to a rapid close weeks ahead of schedule. A number of vessels and convoys are rushing to complete their transits before the route shuts down in the next three weeks.
Unlike the last couple of summers when Russia’s Arctic coastal waterways were fully clear of sea ice, residual winter ice persisted in the eastern section this year. This has resulted in the early onset of ice formation especially in the Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Seas.
Russia’s Northern Sea Route Administration announced that vessels with no ice class will have to vacate the waterway by October 15, around 2-3 weeks ahead of schedule. For vessels with light and medium ice classifications the navigation season will end on October 20 and October 31 respectively.
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