ARKHANGELSK, August 12. /TASS/. The growing number of ships passing through the Northern Sea Route changes the ice quality in the Arctic seas, making the ice situation more difficult, the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute's Director Alexander Makarov said at the Arctic - Regions forum in Arkhangelsk.
"Climate change is far from simplifying our tasks, it probably even complicates them. There emerge new ice phenomena that we have never taken into account. The navigation itself along the route, the constant passage of icebreakers, heavy vessels do change the ice. The ice, I would say, used to be a certain kind of a plate, a certain layer. In places of navigation, everything is being cracked, then gets frozen thus making much more complex ice," he said.
The growing capacity and size of the ships are also affecting the ice structures, he continued. New ice parameters must be taken into account when working on ice forecasts. The scientist compared the Northern Sea Route with a highway where traffic must be provided throughout the year.
Noteworthy, climate change affects the conditions mostly in the summer. "The ice in the Arctic will remain for the next 30-50 years, we cannot cope without icebreakers, we need them. We are saying the ice cover changes only in the summer, the ice remains in the Arctic all winter round," he said. "When we speak about summer, we must understand that summer in [the Russian Arctic's] western sector is 10-11 weeks, well, maybe 12 weeks a year. And in the eastern sector, it's 8, maybe 9 weeks. With climate change, we will get another week of open water for navigation in the western and in the eastern sectors. Yet, this does not cancel navigation in the rest of the time."
About the forum
The Arctic - Regions forum ran in Arkhangelsk on August 8-9. The event was organized by the Arkhangelsk Region's government, and co-organized by the NEVA International Company. The forum's titular partner was the Rosatom State Corporation. TASS was the event's information partner.