Western Arctic Sea Ice Coverage Third Highest On Record - No NW Passage this season
HT: IceAgeNow.
“I wonder why no one bothered to tell the rowers about this before they left Vancouver?” asks Steven Goddard website.
Our original intention was to row around the clock, seven days a week, to keep the boat constantly moving. Our team of four would row in pairs, 12 hours each per day. I did this when I rowed across the Atlantic a few years ago with Tori Holmes and it worked well.
However on this trip, the weather has interfered. Our boat, The Arctic Joule, weighs about 2,300lb fully loaded, so it is virtually impossible to make progress into any sort of stiff wind or swell.
We had three objectives for this expedition: to make it to Pond Inlet and complete the voyage as intended; to draw attention to the topic of climate change and to carry out scientific data collection for the Canadian Department of Ocean and Fisheries; and to document this trip and share the experience with those who are interested.
Through this and other recent articles in The Irish Times, I hope we are doing a good job of the last part. Our film documentary, when complete, will give viewers a deeper insight.
However, we will not make it to Pond Inlet. Though the reasons are beyond our control, it still hurts.
As I write, we are 550km from Cambridge Bay, which is only our halfway mark, and it could be the end of August before we get there. If so, this is where our expedition will finish.We are still giving this everything we have but it has been a difficult week.
http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/travel/long-haul/northwest-passage-diary-we-needed-mother-nature-to-help-she-hasn-t-1.1501355Thanks to Robert van deLeur for these links
To draw attention to “just how rapidly global warming is changing the Arctic,” Kevin Vallely and his 3-man crew are attempting “the first human-powered traverse of the Northwest Passage in a single season,” says this article on Outside.
Launching on July 5, “the four men will spend the next 70-80 days rowing a 25-foot fiberglass boat, the Arctic Joule, 1,800 miles east from Inuvik to Pond Inlet.”
http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration/Crossing-the-Northwest-Passage.html
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