Page "Northwest Passage" Paragraph 7

Thawing ocean or melting ice simultaneously opened up the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route ( Northeast Passage ), making it possible to sail around the Arctic ice cap.

Compared to 1979, the Daily Mail published " Blocked: The Arctic ice, showing as a pink mass in the 1979 picture, links up with northern Canada and Russia.

" Awaited by shipping companies, this ' historic event ' will cut thousands of miles off their routes.

Warning, however, that the NASA satellite images indicated the Arctic may have entered a " death spiral " caused by climate change, Professor Mark Serreze, a sea ice specialist at National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ), USA, said: " The passages are open.

It's a historic event.

We are going to see this more and more as the years go by.

" Due to Arctic shrinkage, the Beluga group of Bremen, Germany, sent the first Western commercial vessels through the Northern Sea Route ( Northeast Passage ) in 2009.

However, Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that " ships entering the North-West passage should first report to his government.