As waters warm, Finnish ship sets mark for earliest Northwest Passage transit
Researcher Daria Gritsenko steps onto land for the first time since setting sail aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it arrives into Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 6,200 miles, the MSV Nordica set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage. The once-forbidding route through the Arctic, linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, has been opening up sooner and for a longer period each summer due to climate change.
David Goldman/Associated Press
The flag of Finland flies aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it arrives into Nuuk, Greenland.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Tiina Jaaskelainen, second from left, and fellow researchers look out from the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it arrives into Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 6,200 miles, the MSV Nordica set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Personnel stand aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it arrives into Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The once-forbidding route through the Arctic, linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, has been opening up sooner and for a longer period each summer due to climate change.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Victor Gronmyr looks out over the ice covering the Victoria Strait as the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica traverses the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Researchers look out from the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as the sun sets over sea ice floating on the Victoria Strait along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Sea ice that foiled famous explorers and blocked the passage to all but the hardiest ships has slowly been melting away in one of the most visible effects of human-made global warming.
David Goldman/Associated Press
The sun sets over sea ice floating on the Victoria Strait along the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Chief engineer Jukka-Pekka Silander watches from the bow of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails into floating sea ice on the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska while traversing the Arctic’s Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
The sun lingers above the Bering Sea at midnight as second officer Juha Tuomi overseas the navigation of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails toward the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Master Mariner Jyri Viljanen, left, captain of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica, and Chief Officer Harri Venalainen navigate from the bridge through ice floating on the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska while traversing the Arctic’s Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
The sun dips below the horizon at midnight as trainee Maatiusi Manning takes in the view from aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails toward Greenland after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
The Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica leaves a wake after sailing through sea ice floating on the Victoria Strait while traversing the Arctic’s Northwest Passage. After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 6,200 miles, the MSV Nordica set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Broken sea ice emerges from under the hull of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails through the Victoria Strait while traversing the Arctic’s Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Trainee Jussi Mikkotervo looks out from the bow of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it sails through ice floating on the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska while traversing the Arctic’s Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Researcher Scott Joblin jumps onto land for the first time since setting sail aboard the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica as it arrives into Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Trainee David Kullualik looks out as the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica arrives into Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Master Mariner Jyri Viljanen, captain of the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica, looks out from the bridge after docking the ship in Nuuk, Greenland, as it arrives after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
Canadian ice navigator, David “Duke” Snider takes a photo from the bridge as the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica arrives into Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
David Goldman/Associated Press
The Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica is docked in Nuuk, Greenland, after traversing the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 6,200 miles, the MSV Nordica set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage.
David Goldman/Associated Press
NUUK, Greenland
After 24 days at sea and a journey spanning more than 6,200 miles, the Finnish icebreaker MSV Nordica has set a new record for the earliest transit of the fabled Northwest Passage.
The once-forbidding route through the Arctic, linking the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, has been opening up sooner and for a longer period each summer because of climate change. Sea ice that foiled famous explorers and blocked the passage to all but the hardiest ships has slowly been melting away in one of the most visible effects of human-made global warming.
Records kept by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans show that the previous earliest passage of the season happened in 2008, when the Canadian Coast Guard ship Louis L. St-Laurent left St. John’s in Newfoundland on July 5 and arrived in the Beaufort Sea off Point Barrow on July 30.
The Nordica, with a team of researchers and Associated Press journalists on board, completed a longer transit in less time – albeit in the opposite direction – setting off from Vancouver on July 5 and reaching Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, on July 29.
While the icebreaker encountered Chinese cargo vessels, Alaskan fishing boats and a German cruise ship in the Pacific, upon entering the Canadian Archipelago, the Nordica traveled alone. Radar indicated the presence of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sherman near Point Barrow; along the coast an occasional collection of houses revealed evidence of human settlement in the far north.
For the most part, the ship’s only companions were Arctic sea birds, seals and the occasional whale, until two-thirds of the way through the voyage, as Nordica was plowing through sea ice in Victoria Strait, a crew member sighted a polar bear.
These animals have come to symbolize the threat posed to Arctic wildlife by climate change because the sea ice they depend on for hunting is disappearing a bit more each year. Scientists predict the Northwest Passage will be largely ice free in the summer by 2050 if current levels of warming continue.
For now, the passage remains a challenge for conventional ships, and efforts are being made to prevent frozen waterways that the local Inuit population depends on for travel from being opened up. Yet tourism and other forms of economic development are already underway.
As Nordica sailed through Baffin Bay, the far corner of the North Atlantic that separates Canada and Greenland, it passed cargo ships lining up in the distance. They were preparing to pick up iron ore from a mine on Baffin Island that’s expected to operate for decades to come.
On July 26, 1845, an expedition to find the Northwest Passage led by British explorer John Franklin was last sighted off Baffin Island. The expedition never made it. Trapped by sea ice, Franklin and his men died from cold, illness and starvation. Their two ships were found in 2014 and 2016, not far from where Nordica sighted its first polar bear.
For more
Associated Press journalists write about their experiences traveling through the Arctic Circle’s fabled Northwest Passage:
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