Tracking ships' icy paths amidst climate change

Date:
July 5, 2023
Source:
Michigan State University
Summary:
Understanding when and where ships are entering areas of Arctic
sea ice can help better understand the potential impacts of vessel
traffic in the region.


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==========================================================================
FULL STORY ========================================================================== There has been much buzz about the warming planet's melting Arctic
region opening shipping routes and lengthening travel seasons in ocean passageways that ice once blocked. Expanded fishing, trade and tourism
is envisioned.

Operative word: Envisioned.

Scientists at Michigan State University (MSU), University of Waterloo,
and University of Alaska Fairbanks report in Climatic Changewhere vessels
are traveling in the ice-covered waters of the Arctic between Alaska
and Russia, and what those reports may mean for important wildlife and communities in the region.

"Even with climate change, sea ice is still a substantial barrier to
Arctic vessel traffic," said Kelly Kapsar, a research associate at
MSU's Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability (CSIS). "Sea
ice also provides critical habitat for many endemic Arctic species and
a hunting platform for Indigenous subsistence hunters. Understanding
when and where ships are entering areas of sea ice can help us to
better understand potential impacts of vessel traffic in the region."
Whether its fishing vessels seeking better catches over a longer season,
or Russian shipping companies eager for better ways to deliver oil and
gas to Chinese customers, increased marine traffic is a given. Whether
this traffic occurs only in the open water season, or also in times of
ice cover is not.

But the researchers point out the difference between what ships could
do as ice changes, and what they will do can be vastly different.

"Up until now projections have been about theoretical ships, such as
noting certain vessel types can travel through up to 2 meters of ice,"
Kapsar said.

"But that's like saying a car can drive up to 200 mph -- just because it
can doesn't mean it will." Combining satellite pictures of ice cover
with GPS vessel tracking data the team was able to analyze how the
ships have been behaving as the shipping passages change. What they've
found is that many ships are following the ice, fishing close to the
edge of ice packs. The researchers also found marked overlap between
areas with vessels traveling in sea ice and the overwintering areas for
bowhead whales.

Previous research by another group has demonstrated that between 1990 and
2012, some 12% of bowhead whales harvested by Alaska Native subsistence
hunters showed signs they had been tangled in fishing gear, and 2% had
scars from being struck by vessels. The new analysis points to a growing
threat to wildlife which also are using the receding ice as they travel
and breed.

Noise from large boats also can disrupt marine mammals. Ships equipped
to break ice potentially could strand both animals and people traveling
across the frozen expanses. Increased traffic also raises fear of
accidents and oil spills. The new pathways are far away from rescue or
clean-up crews.

So far, Kapsar said, their work indicates ship travel reflects a certain caution, offering indications that capability is balanced by practical
and economic realities. For now.

Kapsar and co-author Jianguo "Jack" Liu are members of MSU's Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior Program. "Mapping vessel traffic patterns in the
ice- covered waters of the Pacific Arctic" also was written by Lawson
Brigham and Grant Gunn. The work is funded by the National Science
Foundation.

* RELATED_TOPICS
o Matter_&_Energy
# Nature_of_Water # Transportation_Science #
Automotive_and_Transportation # Spintronics
o Earth_&_Climate
# Global_Warming # Climate # Ice_Ages #
Snow_and_Avalanches
* RELATED_TERMS
o Global_warming o Tsunami o Sea_level o Polar_Bear o Tundra
o Ice_shelf o Road-traffic_safety o Ice_sheet

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Story Source: Materials provided by Michigan_State_University. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Kelly Kapsar, Grant Gunn, Lawson Brigham, Jianguo Liu. Mapping
vessel
traffic patterns in the ice-covered waters of the Pacific Arctic.

Climatic Change, 2023; 176 (7) DOI: 10.1007/s10584-023-03568-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230705171107.htm

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