Northwest Passage - 2017

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by joel383

Just met a guy from the Netherlands on an aluminum boat called `Tranquilo` here in Seward Alaska that said he's going West to East this year. Forgot his name too...

Edit:looks like he may have done it previously... SOLO!

Edit 2: his name is Bart[emoji1]

Made his money in Vodka... was down in TdF about 2008ish

[toddster8]

This showed up at my marina yesterday. I searched around for it on-line and found a blurb that said it was custom built for the Northwest Passage. For some guy who lives in Florida. We don't need no steenking panama canal!

[DeepFrz]

toddster8, what is the name? Nordhavn obviously but no fly bridge. What length?

[toddster8]

It was a Nordhavn 63 just called "Ha." Somehow, it looked bigger than that, towering above our guest dock. Boats like these may be a common sight in Miami, but they still rate a double take, way up on the Columbia.
It isn't hard to Google-up the owner's name and biography, and an interview or two about the boat, if interested.

According to the AIS, it appeared to be traveling up-river with something called "Seal Team," but I didn't see anything else unusual come in. Perhaps the name of the "dinghy?"

[SailOar]

Cyan - this year
Red - last year
Green - record-setting 2012

Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis

As of July 17, Arctic sea ice extent stood at 7.88 million square kilometers (3.04 million square miles). This is 1.69 million square kilometers (653,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average, and 714,000 square kilometers (276,000 million square miles) below the interdecile range. Extent was lower than average over most of the Arctic, except for the East Greenland Sea. Hudson Bay was nearly ice free by mid July, much earlier than is typical, but in line with what has been observed in recent years.

I wonder when the first circumnavigation of Greenland by non-icebreakers will be possible?

[DeepFrz]

A Finnish icebreaker has set a record for the earliest NW Passage. Beat the last record by one day.
Ship sets record for earliest crossing of Northwest Passage - North - CBC News

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

A Finnish icebreaker has set a record for the earliest NW Passage. Beat the last record by one day.
Ship sets record for earliest crossing of Northwest Passage - North - CBC News

Thats part of the problem in the arctic ocean they get praised for damaging an already fragile ecosystem in the name of mere fleeting fame. What a shame.

[SailOar]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

A Finnish icebreaker has set a record for the earliest NW Passage. Beat the last record by one day.
Ship sets record for earliest crossing of Northwest Passage - North - CBC News

Nice photos here:

Icebreaker leaves jagged, beautiful Arctic icescapes

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by SailOar

Nice photos here:

Icebreaker leaves jagged, beautiful Arctic icescapes

Good pictures showing just what I have been saying all along about icebreakers damaging a rather fragile ecosystem

[jimbunyard]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Good pictures showing just what I have been saying all along about icebreakers damaging a rather fragile ecosystem

As they are---marginally---by the CO2 their (typically) diesel engines add to the already overloaded atmospheric CO2 budget...

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by jimbunyard

As they are---marginally---by the CO2 their (typically) diesel engines add to the already overloaded atmospheric CO2 budget...

Not to mention the particulate matter they emit increases the albedo effect numbers

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Not to mention the particulate matter they emit increases the albedo effect numbers

So why are we not cooling?

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by jackdale

So why are we not cooling?

Jack you always keep me on my toes I ment decreases albedo effect

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Jack you always keep me on my toes I ment decreases albedo effect

You might wish to do some research on that contention.

Aerosols and Clouds (Indirect Effects)

Whereas aerosols can influence climate by scattering light and changing Earth’s reflectivity, they can also alter the climate via clouds. On a global scale, these aerosol “indirect effects” typically work in opposition to greenhouse gases and cause cooling. While greenhouse gases disperse widely and have a fairly consistent impact from region to region, aerosol effects are less consistent, partly because of how the particles affect clouds.
Most elementary school students learn that clouds form when enough water vapor condenses. That’s true, but aerosols play a critical role in the process. In fact, most clouds owe their existence to aerosols that serve as the tiny “seeds,” called cloud condensation nuclei.

Natural aerosols—often sulfates, sea salt or ammonium salts—are the most common condensation nuclei in pristine environments. Polluted air, in contrast, usually contains much higher concentrations of water-soluble particles, which means pollution-rich clouds tend to have more numerous, but smaller, droplets. The small droplets make polluted clouds look brighter than they would otherwise be. Just as many bits of crushed ice give light more surfaces to reflect off—appearing brighter than a solid cube of ice—if the water in a cloud is divided into a larger number of smaller droplets, it will scatter more light and become more reflective.

Brighter clouds, in turn, block sunlight from reaching Earth’s surface, shading the planet and producing net cooling. This cloud brightening effect—called the “cloud albedo effect”—may have a big impact on the climate, though only in recent years has it been possible to start quantifying the effect.
This impact of aerosols is clearly visible in ship tracks, bright streaks in marine clouds that look like airplane contrails. In the absence of ships, sea salt particles and the natural sulfates produced by phytoplankton seed most marine clouds. However, the exhaust from ship smokestacks make trails of sulfates and other aerosols that form long, bright clouds.

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Fe...sols/page4.php

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by jackdale

You might wish to do some research on that contention.



https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Fe...sols/page4.php

Jack I was referring to the particulate matter in the exhaust that settles rapidly out and onto the ice. Not the longer lived voc's