Coast Guard plans to set up arctic base

This undated photo made available by the U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007 shows the Coast Guard cutter Healy in the Arctic Ocean near Barrow, Alaska. The Coast Guard plans to set up an operations base in Barrow to monitor waters now free of ice for longer periods of the year. (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard)


Coast Guard plans to set up arctic base
By Rachel D'Oro, Associated Press Writer | October 25, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska --A Coast Guard reconnaissance team is heading to the far north this week to scope out a new frontier that the warming Arctic climate is opening to ship traffic.

The Coast Guard could set up an operations base in Barrow as early as next spring to monitor waters that are now free of ice for longer periods of the year. Weather permitting, a scouting crew will fly 1,183 miles Thursday from Barrow, the northernmost U.S. town, to the North Pole.

"This is a new area for us to do surveillance," said Rear Adm. Arthur E. Brooks, commander of the Coast Guard's Alaska district. "We're going primarily to see what's there, what ships, if any, are up there."

Thinning ice has made travel along the northern coast increasingly attractive, said Brooks, who plans to accompany the crew in the C-130 flight. Tankers and even cruise ships are beginning to venture into the domain once traveled only by indigenous hunters and research vessels, such as the Coast Guard ice-cutter Healy.

The ice cap is believed to be warming faster than the rest of the world, and recent studies suggest shipping routes could open in the Arctic in as little as a decade. Just a few years ago, scientists predicted it would take a century for the ice to melt.

The melting could also open up oil and gas exploration -- a prospect that has nations in the circumpolar north racing to declare their sovereignty in the region.


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