Northwest Passage (Melville Sound ) Likely Open In Next Weeks - Southern Route Already Open - G&M

Even though this summer's ice melt hasn't approached last year's record conditions, the once-frozen Northwest Passage through Canada's Arctic is expected to open again soon, for only the second time in recorded history.

Already, a shallower, more southern route has freed up, according to high-resolution sea ice charts extracted from satellite microwave imagery by German researchers at the University of Bremen's Institute of Environmental Physics.

The more traditional Northwest Passage route, further north, is still clogged but it could be ice-free later this month, said Mark Serreze, a senior researcher at the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center. "Our view is that it may well open in the next few weeks," he said in an interview yesterday. Ice remains from west of Cornwallis Island in Nunavut to east of Banks Island in the Northwest Territories, he said. "There is only a fairly small plug in there right now and it's showing signs it's melting away."

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The polar ice cap is now so thin that, even though this summer has been somewhat cooler than the previous one, large portions will disappear. "It really almost doesn't matter any more. We know we'll get a big loss of ice this year simply because we have so much thin ice," Dr. Serreze said.

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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080806.PASSAGE06//TPStory/Environment