• Northern sea route opening up in Russia.
    26 replies, posted
[url]http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/the-shortest-route-russia-ships-gas-to-japan-via-arctic/8553[/url] [quote]Want to ship some liquefied natural gas to Japan from somewhere up north, but don’t fancy taking the circuitous southern route through Panama or the Suez? Try heading through the Arctic. But first, get yourself a good nuclear powered icebreaker. That’s what Russia’s Gazprom did a few weeks ago. It lined up two of the country’s atomic icebreakers to escort an LNG carrier from Norway’s port of Hammerfest to a gas terminal in Tobata, Japan. The flotilla slammed right through the Northern Sea Route that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans along the Siberian coastline, heading down through the Berring Strait. “This strategic route reduces trip time from northern Europe to northeast Asia (by) almost 40 percent comparing with routes via the southern seas and oceans,” Gazprom’s website states. The Greek-operated carrier, called the Ob River, left Norway on Nov. 7 and arrived in Tobata on Dec. 5, carrying Gazprom cargo behind the icebreakers operated by Russian company Atomflot, which owns the world’s only fleet of nuclear icebreakers (they might become less necessary as more Arctic ice melts). [img]http://i.bnet.com/blogs/northernsearoute3.jpg[/img] Over the top. The shortest sea route from northern Europe to Japan is through the Arctic. Gazprom notes that the shortened journey saves fuel, reduces losses from LNG evaporation, cuts CO2 emissions and mitigates the risk of pirate attack. Japan has turned to LNG imports and other fossil fuels to help fill the power gap left by shutting down all but 2 of the 54 nuclear reactors that had furnished about 30 percent of the country’s electricity prior to the meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in 2011. There’s a hint of irony in nuclear reactors providing the propulsion that’s delivering the fuel that’s replacing nuclear reactors. The whole process is a showcase for small reactors - the sort that power the icebreakers and that could serve many land lubber purposes as well.[/quote] [img_thumb]http://i.bnet.com/blogs/nuclearicebreaker-lng-ship-gazprom.jpg[/img_thumb] The northern sea ice has been melting for a couple of years now, it's only quite recently that shipping has really started to kick off in the Arctic. [quote]In 2009, the first two international commercial cargo vessels traveled north of Russia between Europe and Asia.[18] In 2011, 18 ships have made the now mostly ice-free crossing.[19] In 2011, 34 ships made the passage up from a total of 6 ships in 2010.[20] In 2012, 46 commercial ships made the passage.[/quote] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sea_Route#Ice-free_navigation[/url]
So good for global shipping, from the bad results of global warming?
Now us Canadians can get quality Russian goods in our north pole igloos.
Pretty interesting that the Panama is going obsolete. Related song. [video=youtube;w-NshzYK9y0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-NshzYK9y0[/video]
Icebreakers are so cool.
What concerns me more is that they are seizing this opportunity to drill for crude oil which was once inaccessible because of the ice. Way to shit where you eat, mankind.
if this obsoletes Panamax then we'll get to see some [i]really[/i] big ships :)
That's rather neat.
The north pole is warming and the ice caps melting, while the south pole is cooling and ice caps growing.
Uh this isn't good Ocean currents are fragile as fuck
[QUOTE=Tucan Sam;38910891]the south pole is cooling and ice caps growing.[/QUOTE] no it isn't
[QUOTE=DesolateGrun;38911635]Uh this isn't good Ocean currents are fragile as fuck[/QUOTE] If they fuck up the gulfstream warming scandinavia, we're going to get [I]cold[/I]. Think Russian Tundra permafrost cold...
[QUOTE=DainBramageStudios;38912009]no it isn't[/QUOTE] Indeed. Look at the famous Larsen Ice Shelf. [video=youtube;N61EP5zB8uU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N61EP5zB8uU[/video] During 31 January 2002–7 March 2002 the Larsen B sector collapsed and broke up, 3,250 km² of ice 220 m thick disintegrated, meaning an ice shelf covering an area comparable in size to the US state of Rhode Island collapsed in a single season.[6] Larsen B was stable for up to 12,000 years, essentially the entire Holocene period since the last glacial period, according to Queen's University researchers.[7] By contrast, Larsen A "was absent for a significant part of that period and reformed beginning about 4,000 years ago," according to the study.
We are fucking our planet up, what if there are hidden secrets frozen in the ice that we will never find now. :(((((
before this thread turns into 5 pages of "oh noes were destroying our earth" be aware that earth is getting hotter on it's own and humans are merely speeding up the inevitable heating process.
[QUOTE=meppers;38916059]before this thread turns into 5 pages of "oh noes were destroying our earth" be aware that earth is getting hotter on it's own and humans are merely speeding up the inevitable heating process.[/QUOTE] source?
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38916093]source?[/QUOTE] Should be obvious, however we are speeding up way beyond adaptability so we're basically killing off life faster than normal
[QUOTE=Lazzars;38910102]if this obsoletes Panamax then we'll get to see some [i]really[/i] big ships :)[/QUOTE] B-B-but... We're building a second canal for post-panamax ships. Don't turn your back on us now :(
Imagine if those ships leak radioactive waste along their route. It'll create a giant mutant penguin, a Godzilla of the North if you will. This giant mutant penguin will wreak havoc on the northern hemisphere, we must stop these crazy Russians before we're all doomed!
[QUOTE=cecilbdemodded;38918214]Imagine if those ships leak radioactive waste along their route. It'll create a giant mutant penguin, a Godzilla of the North if you will. This giant mutant penguin will wreak havoc on the northern hemisphere, we must stop these crazy Russians before we're all doomed![/QUOTE]I speak on behalf of the mutant penguin overlord, and He has expressed His utter dedication to a peaceful transition of global power. There is nothing to fear.
[QUOTE=Map in a box;38917754]Should be obvious, however we are speeding up way beyond adaptability so we're basically killing off life faster than normal[/QUOTE] I'm asking for a source on "the planet is heating up on its own"
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38922270]I'm asking for a source on "the planet is heating up on its own"[/QUOTE] DON'T YOU KNOW HOW THE HELL A GREENHOUSE WORKS?! The heat stay inside earth's atmosphere and get slowly hotter and hotter by volcanoes, the sun, hot fumes from cars etc.
[QUOTE=kimr120;38922390]DON'T YOU KNOW HOW THE HELL A GREENHOUSE WORKS?! The heat stay inside earth's atmosphere and get slowly hotter and hotter by volcanoes, the sun, hot fumes from cars etc.[/QUOTE] "heating up on its own" "hot fumes from cars"
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38922523]"heating up on its own" "hot fumes from cars"[/QUOTE] "Ice age is non existent".
[QUOTE=Sobotnik;38922523]"heating up on its own" "hot fumes from cars"[/QUOTE] I think he's talking about earth's natural cycle over the course of millennia, through ice cores we can see what our atmosphere was composed of during several cycles of ice ages and heat periods. Us, increasing the CO2 levels will be speeding up this effect, faster than animal life can adapt to it, thus causing a problem.
[QUOTE=Xavith;38922760]I think he's talking about earth's natural cycle over the course of millennia, through ice cores we can see what our atmosphere was composed of during several cycles of ice ages and heat periods. Us, increasing the CO2 levels will be speeding up this effect, faster than animal life can adapt to it, thus causing a problem.[/QUOTE] There are heating/cooling periods, although I'm not too sure of the claim that we are in a warming period at the moment. The last period we were in was a cool period, and that lasted from the late middle ages until the 19th century iirc. [editline]21st December 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=laserguided;38922618]"Ice age is non existent".[/QUOTE] wat
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