Navy and the Arctic

[Old Rocks]

Hello, Doooodeeee.......

Navy: Time is now to prep for ice-free Arctic - Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times

Navy: Time is now to prep for ice-free Arctic

By Lance M. Bacon - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 2, 2010 12:43:37 EST

The Navy will soon have a new battlefield on its hands. Climate changes near the North Pole have been dramatic. The amount of summertime ice has decreased by half over the past 50 years. The ice is also 50 percent thinner, resulting in greater seasonal variations.

“The Arctic is changing, and it is changing rapidly,” said Rear Adm. David Titley, oceanographer of the Navy. “If the Navy does not start looking at this today … we could wake up in seven or eight years and find ourselves way behind the power curve.”

Climate experts predict several weeks of “ice-free” conditions each year, meaning there will be less than 10 percent aerial ice coverage. Navigable waters would likely bring trans-Arctic container shipping, fishermen and even ill-advised thrill seekers. All will meet in a resource-rich region buried beneath disputed claims, untested treaties and five nations vying for their share of sovereignty.

 

[Old Rocks]

3rd Symposium on the Impact of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations - June 9 - 11, 2009

This page provides background information and planning details for the third U.S. National/Naval Ice Center (NIC) symposium that will continue to address the changing state of Arctic sea ice conditions and the present and future impacts on naval, maritime, and associated activities and operations in the region. The "3rd Symposium on the Impacts of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations", co-hosted by the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC), will take place at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland on 9-11 June 2009.

Background
The 100-year historical record from ships and settlements going back to 1900 shows a decline in Arctic ice extent starting about 1950 and falling below pre-1950 minima after about 1975 [Naval Operations in an Ice Free Arctic, 2001]. According to satellite records available since late 1978, an overall downward trend in the extent of Arctic sea ice is present. This trend seems to have been accelerating during the last decade. In addition to the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment document (ACIA) published by the Arctic Council in 2004, numerous other reports and articles published since have documented significant recent sea ice extent reductions, both during summer and winter seasons. The percentage of multi-year ice in the winter has been shown to also continue to decrease significantly.

This symposium addresses present and future impacts of these rapid changes. In particular, it provides a forum for key agencies to discuss their planned response to the updated Arctic Policy of the U.S. government. This event is a follow-up to the symposia on "Naval Operations in an Ice-free Arctic" (PDF, 818KB) sponsored by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), NIC, the Oceanographer of the Navy, and the USARC on April 2001 and on the "Impact of an Ice-Diminishing Arctic on Naval and Maritime Operations" co-sponsored by NIC and USARC in July 2007. While the 2001 symposium focused mainly on naval operations and national strategic issues, the 2007 symposium expanded the discussion to impacts on other maritime operations such as commercial transportation, oil and gas exploration and exploitation, fisheries, and oceanographic research. The 2009 symposium continues this discussion under the light of several events that include

 

[Old Rocks]

Navy?s role in the Arctic may change as icy lanes clear up - News - Stripes

New climate data point to a summer season completely free of sea ice as early as 2030 — about 70 years sooner than previously predicted — allowing ships to move freely for the first time in history, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

By midcentury, the Navy could be faced with providing maritime security for a new ice-free Arctic and a commercial shipping boom on par with the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca, said Rear Adm. David Titley, commander of Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command.

"As the ice melts back … how do we work this as a seasonal-type area?" said Titley, who heads the Navy’s Task Force Climate Change. "I think this is an area that is going to be very, very important to the Navy in the 21st century

 

[Old Rocks]

Arctic | Center for a New American Security

Reductions in Arctic summer sea ice have created new opportunities for access to maritime trade routes and sea lines of communication, and potential access to vast supplies of zinc, nickel, palladium, precious stones and other various minerals, as well as oil and natural gas under the ocean with an estimated value of 1.2 trillion dollars. Many of these resources lie in the extended continental shelf up to 600 nautical miles of the Alaska coast. As access to the Arctic and industry technologies continues to improve, heightened energy needs could spur private corporations to increase exploration and exploitation of these reserves. UNCLOS establishes the process for mining firms to obtain access and exclusive rights to these resources and title to the minerals once recovered. A failure to ratify UNCLOS prevents the United States from submitting a claim for rights in the extended continental shelf and prevents firms from securing these rights. This will hinder growth in the emerging seabed mining industry and related industries in the United States – as well as the jobs supporting those industries – because corporations will wisely seek the protection and legal certainty afforded only to member nations of UNCLOS before investing in these opportunities.

 

[elvis]

yawn.

 

[Old Rocks]

Damn, just can't trust these damned libtards, now, can you.

 

[Old Rocks]

yawn.

Don't let your brains fall out.

 

[elvis]

yawn.

Don't let your brains fall out.

Holy fuck. You made it a whole sentence without misspelling a word you should have learned in fifth grade.

 

[westwall]

I do notice that the article was just after the CLIMATEGATE revelations before the full impact of the fraud was known, and the other "articles" mostly predate CLIMATEGATE. Me thinks attitudes have changed a mite.


A friend of mines son is the current COMSUBPAC, I'll ask him if they are doing anything about the "coming" ice free seasons. Provided it's not classified of course.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

So if all the ice is melting, that should mean the Maldive are now completely submerged, right?

 

[westwall]

So if all the ice is melting, that should mean the Maldive are now completely submerged, right?

That is certainly what we have been led to believe. I think they've been disappearing now for around 35 years or so. Damn persistent little bastards aren't they?