Lack of ice in Northwest Passage stuns researchers

Scientists aboard theAmundsen research icebreaker say they were shocked by the lack of ice during their recent trip through Canada's Northwest Passage.

The icebreaker spent the last two months travelling from Eastern Arctic waters through to the Beaufort Sea in the west and backagain to Baffin Island'sFrobisher Bay, where it set anchor Monday.

Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientist Dr. Gary Sternsaid there was open water fromstart to finish, including the route's most northerly point at 72 degrees north, and in the west.

"Then as we moved our way further east, we managed to actually get through Bellot Strait and Hecla and Fury Strait as well with virtually no ice," Stern said. "Again that is unprecedented at this time of the year."

However less and later ice is not necessarily all bad news, said Simon Awa, Nunavut's deputy minister of environment.

It already means a longer boating season and shorter winters, requiring less energy consumption, Awa said.

"[Of] course there might be some negative impacts which we have to address in terms of adaptation," he said. "Meaning for the hunters, the wildlife might be moving somewhere else and all that stuff."

The governmentplans to hold aworkshop in December onclimate change adaptation, he said.

The ship's arrival in Iqaluit coincided with areport from Britainthat estimated climate change could cost the world $7 trillion and urged bold action on greenhouse gas emissions.