Corat Coret Virtual DMe3: Northwest Passage of Arctic Is Melting !!!

The most direct route through the Northwest Passage
has opened up fully for the first time since records began, the
European Space Agency (Esa) says.

Historically, the passage that links the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic has been ice-bound. But the agency says ice cover has been steadily shrinking, and this year's drop has made the passage navigable. The findings - based on satellite images - have raised concerns about the speed of global warming.

The Northwest Passage is one of the most fabled sea
routes in the world - a short cut from Europe to Asia through the high
Arctic. Recent years have seen a marked shrinkage in its ice cover, but this year it was extreme, Esa says. It says this made the passage "fully navigable" for the first time since monitoring began in 1978.

"We have seen the ice-covered area drop to just around
3m sq km (1,2 sq miles)," Leif Toudal Pedersen of the Danish National
Space Center said. He said it was "about 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) less than the previous minima of 2005 and 2006".

"There has been a reduction of the ice cover over the last 10 years of about 100, 000 sq km (38,600 sq miles) per year on average, so a drop of 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles) in just one year is extreme," Mr Pedersen said.

The Northeast Passage through the Russian Arctic has
also seen its ice cover shrink and it currently "remains only partially
blocked," Esa says.