Tag Archives: Northeast Passage expedition

Northeast Passage: Navigation

General

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
 

Sea ice as seen from the Explorer of Sweden

Sea ice as seen from the Explorer of Sweden


Being firmly in the most difficult part of the expedition with regard to sea ice, we have been spending considerable time discussing which route to take now.  We receive daily updates of images derived from passive microwave radar (thanks to Georg at the University of Bremen, and DAMOCLES!) plus radio reports and imagery from a couple of Russian icebreakers in the region whenever we want them.  Not that they are necessary at the moment, the sea we are travelling through has less than 10% ice cover, so it barely slows us down and just makes vigilance on our watches more important.
The discussion usually revolves around whether we should wait a little before proceeding into the Vilkitsky Strait region, the main navigation route between Cape Chelyuskin (the northernmost point of Eurasia) and the islands of Zevernaya Zemlya.  So much depends on the wind moving the mobile rotten sea ice (ice in the last stages of melting) that is all that we are seeing.  At present we are at 76 degrees 47 minutes North 100 degrees 12 minutes East heading north east, and are hoping that the change in wind direction from North West to South East will maker our passage easier.  Not that it has been difficult:  you could drive a super tanker up the route we have taken so far!
There is however a blockage in front of us according to the ice charts from the weekend.  My hope is that by the time we reach it, in perhaps 12 hours, it will have cleared and we will have open water all the way to Providenya in the Bering Strait.  We know the Laptev sea has been completely free of ice for perhaps a month, a trend that has been increasingly common for the past few years.  So much for the frozen Arctic Ocean, the impacts of climate change are obvious up here.
So we continue our voyage with binoculars glued to our eyes, trying to work out if that lightish patch on the clouds on the horizon is reflection off ice, or just the dawn. Just a small piece of ice could be dangerous to ‘Explorer’ despite her ice reinforcement. The sea is totally calm (common when there is even a small amount of ice in the water), with no wind.  Beautifully tranquil at 3am.

Northeast Passage: Is climate change real?

General,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
 

Navigating through the floating sea ice

Navigating through the floating sea ice


We have been sitting waiting for the wind to change for 36 hours now, securely anchored in a bay at Tyrtova Island.  Apart from our usual activities, there has been ample time to talk about many issues including the reason I’m here in the first place: Climate Change.
From my perspective, the past few months has seen an upsurge in misinformation and ‘climate skepticism’ in the world’s media.Perhaps this is just a natural reaction to the increased profile of the issue in the lead up to Copenhagen in December.  We see many of the same simple old arguments raised again, despite having been put firmly to bed over the past decade.  “When Erik the Red went to Greenland, it was warmer than today”, “Climate Change has been happening for millions of years, there is no evidence that it is caused by man”, “CO2 is necessary for plants to grow, how can it be bad?”, and “there are so many other more pressing problems in the world, why is all the emphasis being given to something that isn’t going to affect us for many years?”, and so on.  I’m sure you know the drill.  Some of the crew even noted that there is a lot of ice around us, so maybe the problem isn’t as bad as I make it out to be.
The reality is that the science is very, very clear. Human-induced climate change is real, and dangerous. There is no doubt at all, no necessity for debate.  In the Arctic the evidence is probably clearer than anywhere else, with the loss of almost half the summer sea ice since 1980, changes to the ecology, and really obvious warming: last autumn was 5 degrees warmer than normal!
What is really difficult is to communicate the complexity of the climate system. Many people simply don’t have the time or inclination to delve into answering the questions they legitimately pose.  Science has done its best to communicate the knowledge that has been developed, through institutions like the IPCC.  However, the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” is as applicable in this arena as anywhere else.
Organisations like WWF and many others try very hard to present the information in a coherent and easy to understand manner.  There is obviously a need to do better to counter the tide of misinformation, to get across the absolute basics of the problem to vast numbers of people who will be affected.  My part in that is small, but I hope that through expeditions such as this we can make a difference.

Northeast Passage: The anxious wait

General

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton

Scouting for a way through the sea ice

Scouting for a way through the sea ice


Yesterday we arrived at Tyrtova Island in the Nordenskjold archipelago and found a sheltered anchorage on the western side, out of danger of drifting ice.  The water temperature is about minus 1, the air a bit cooler. A strong breeze blows constantly to create a wind chill that makes it feel significantly cold.
Our arrival was a welcome break for everyone: we had travelled through broken drift ice all day. Constant vigilance is required to avoid hitting something that could bring the expedition to a premature end. Now we wait for the forecast wind change that will drive the ice away from our route to Cape Chelyuskin and the Laptev Sea (which has been free of ice for about a month already.  We celebrated with a fantastic chicken tikka masala dinner in the cosy saloon and watched some of Fredrik’s fantastic footage shot in Antarctica.
This morning we all realise that this is the cliffhanger moment of the expedition.  Despite all the satellite images and ice breaker reports we simply don’t know if it will be possible to traverse the short stretch of water to an ice free and safe passage eastwards.  We can’t just sit and wait forever for the ice to melt, as there is still a long way to go.  Our best judgement tells us to wait for the wind change, hopefully tomorrow, and then run north east to the Vilkitsky Strait.  But we know it won’t be that simple: the ice moves fast, not always with the wind, and an ice blockage only 50 metres across would stop our progress.
So we wait. Everyone is quietly doing their jobs, or writing, or sleeping, and you can sense the tension.  We all know that global warming is melting the arctic sea ice – that’s why we are here! But the navigational realities have little to do with the loss of 100,000 square kilometres of ice from the arctic ocean each day. We could easily be stopped by some of that fragmenting, melting, ice, drifting in its last days before giving up its identity to the ocean.
This is a different world from that of Nansen, Nordenskjold, and even more recent arctic explorers, when the ice was much thicker, more consistent, and covered a much wider area.  Even recently, for 8 years out of ten since 1980 this area has been covered with ice (see the latest National Snow and Ice Data Centre animation).  Now it’s a new world, an unpredictable world, where all the ice breakers in the world can’t provide a safe passage through the once-frozen sea ice lanscape.  We are well on the way to creating a new ocean and I’m watching it happen.

Northeast Passage: ICE!!!

General, ,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
We have experienced our first encounter with drifting sea ice, at last, almost 2 weeks after leaving Murmansk.
I came on watch at midnight with a calm sea and wind so we were motoring along. About 1am the wind picked up and we decided to put up the sails.  It was great to be sailing again!  However within 10 minutes I saw something that looked like a yacht on the horizon, sailing towards us.  Unlikely given where we are: there is only one boat within 100km of us!
The ‘yacht’ turned out to be the advance guard of a fleet of icebergs that soon surrounded us. For about an hour the sea was full of pieces of white, brown, and green fragments, some a metre across, some hundreds of metres. The water temperature dropped from 4 degrees to 1.8 in half an hour.
Then they were gone, and only the occasional piece floated past by the end of my watch at 4am.  But this signals the next phase of the expedition when we need constant vigilance: one hit could create a situation we certainly don’t want.
So where does this ice come from?  We have been monitoring a stream of ice moving south from the main polar ‘cap’, down the west coast of Severnaya Zemlya.  It has been slowly breaking up over the last week, and moving west.  There is also ice that has been attached to the islands of several archipelagos in the region that is breaking up and moving with the wind and currents.  Some of the ice we saw tonight was very dirty, often an indication that it has been very near land.
The fact we are seeing ice now is not unusual: at 76 degrees North the sea has typically been frozen for most of the year.  The fact we have got so far already is in itself a feat.  From now on our progress will be determined not by the ‘big picture’ melting of the arctic ocean, but by the vagaries of the weather and drift patterns of ice around and between the islands near Cape Chelyuskin.
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Northeast Passage: Dixon!

General,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
After lunch today we reached one of the most isolated, northernmost settlements in the world: Dixon, latitude 73 degrees 30 minutes North, 80 degrees 30 minutes East, the town at the mouth of the mighty Yenesai river.  Once a town of 5000, the recent depopulation of the Russian north has left only 500 people to brave the harsh winter and decaying infrastructure.  To my knowledge we are the first yacht to visit Dixon since 2002.
What struck all of the ‘Explorer’ team was the incredible welcome we received from everyone we met. Hardship is a daily reality here, and the openness and friendship shown to us was breathtaking.  I was taken by the hand in the street by an indigenous Nenets man, and asked to come to his modest apartment to meet his mother. Other people gave us small gifts just to show their friendship. Everybody smiled.
Why is there a town in the Russian Arctic called Dixon?  Because Adolf Erik Nordenskjold, the Swede whose footsteps we are retracing, visited the sheltered harbour here in 1875 and named it Port Dixon,after the Gothenburg merchant Oscar Dixon who bankrolled many of his expeditions to the Arctic,  convinced that one daythis place would become a great city.
Dixon is an important milestone for this expedition.  Not only have we sailed through the extraordinary Kara Sea, ice covered in summer only 10 years ago, but we have reached the last ‘civilised’ place before heading even further north to the most challenging point so far, Cape Chelyuskin.  In spite of the enormous melting of the ice, there is a small tongue of sea ice projecting down from the pack to almost reach the coast there.  Navigating through this will test the skills of the whole team: you can’t just stop when you get tired!


The Kara Sea
There are some places that cling to the imagination despite never having been there.  For me as a young man it was names like Lena delta, Kara Sea, Siberia, Greenland.  And now I’m here it is ever more interesting than it was as some sort of dream.
The Kara Sea is a good example.  Nothing like I expected, this huge body of water is like no other sea on Earth.  Thew first thing you notice is that it is a different colour from the Barents Sea (which is the usual greenish gray in cloudy weather): it’s brown, like tea.  In fact it is almost tea, the extract of the enormous Siberian taiga, or coniferous boreal forest, the largest on the planet, brough to the ocean by the huge rivers the Ob, and the Yenesei, which drain the eastern half of Russia to the north.  The deltas of these rivers have filled in a large part of the Kara Sea basin and enormous volumes of sediment are still delivered to the ocean each year, particularly during spring.
The second thing you notice is that it isn’t salty, it almost fresh!  Thoise same rivers put so much water into the Kara Sea that there is a thick layer of fresh water lying over the top of the salty water.  This layer varies from 6 to 15 metres thick on our voyage: you can see it on the echo sounder quite clearly. The fresh water brings with it a hazard to sailors, a vast number of logs from the forests of Siberia which float down the rivers, out to sea, and end up on the coasts of arctic islands like Svalbard.
The third thing you notice is that it’s warm.  in contrast to the Barents Sea, the Kara has been up to 9 degrees, typically about 7.5.  This warmth comes from the river water, and the fact that this sea is really, really shallow.  Apart from the trough along the east coast of Novaya Zemlya (which is up to 500m deep), the Kara is typically 20 to 30 metres deep, which for a sea is incredibly shallow.  The water temperature is above the ait temperature often leading to foggy conditions.
All of these things create an environment for life that is completely different from the Barents Sea, for example. There seem to be far fewer fish, and no whales – it’s just too shallow, and there isn’t as much food. We have seen walrus’ basking far from land here, as the depth is a comfortable dive to feed on benthic organisms over huge areas.
Another factor that makes the Kara unique is that in winter it has historically been completely covered with ice.  This seems to have changed recently as for about the last decade the Kara has only partly frozen, resulting in a radically different oceanography and ecology. What used to be multi year ice is at best one year old, and it’s much thinner.  The onset of melt is occurring earlier each year, the freeze up later.  As the Arctic continues to melt the Kara Sea will continue to be at the forefront of change, and what happens here will have implications for not just the Arctic, but for the entire world.

Northeast Passage: Explorer of Sweden – a very special boat

General

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
As we cruise across the very tranquil Kara Sea (which is not always so!) towards the township of Dickson at the mouth of the great Yenesei river, I have time to reflect on the extraordinary boat we are sailing.
‘Explorer of Sweden’ was built in the mid 1990s by a Swedish master craftsman, Alve Hendriksson, as a vessel able to undertake research in remote areas, include the poles.  It is a unique design resulting from many years experience and is perfectly suited to expedition cruising such as this expedition.  In her original guise, as ‘Searcher’, the boat went to the  Seychelles (reef research), Henderson Island in the south Pacific (bird research), and then the recreation of the Shackleton expedition to Antartica with Ola Skinnarmo.
‘Explorer’ is a very sturdy 19m yacht built of high tensile steel, with closely spaced ribs to provide strength against the ice, watertight compartments, and numerous safety systems.  It has a large engine to supplement the sails, and sleeps 10 people. All the sails are hydraulically furled, and as the wheelhouse is fully enclosed for bad (and cold) weather sailing the yacht can be sailed without ever having to go outside. ‘Explorer’ can be self supporting for very long periods, via big fuel tanks, fresh water generator, multiple power systems (generator, wind, solar panels, etc), and lots of storage for supplies.  You even have a choice of bathroom: one inside, and for those balmy arctic days, a hot freshwater shower on the aft deck.  Bliss!
There are more electronics aboard than Apollo 11 could ever dream about: satellite navigation (2),digital charts,  radar, AIS, depth sounder, 2 different broadband satellite communications systems, a ‘movie theatre’ in the saloon, and a sound system you can direct towards different parts of the boat. Add to these the laptops, printers, video and still cameras (so many we have a problem storing the Pelicases!), handheld GPS, iPods, sat phones and other gizmos of the crew.
Safety is paramount on a boat like this, so beyond its very safe design ‘Explorer’ has all the gear: life raft, survival suits, multiple fire fighting systems,  emergency beacons, and so on.  Nice to know as we head into the ice next week.

Northeast Passage: Welcome to the Kara Sea!

General,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
Monday 10th August, midnight.  Position: 72 degrees 23′ N 66 degrees 23′ E

An arctic fulmar.

An arctic fulmar.


We’re cruising now through the Kara Seas, a really arctic region which freezes completely each winter.  Between Novaya Zemlya and the Yamal Peninsula, where we are now, the water temperature has dropped to 5.4 degrees and the air temperature is noticeably cooler.  The weather is calm, the sea flat, and the slight breeze from NNW (which doesn’t help sailing!).  No boats on the radar or radio, and few birds: a family or two of curious arctic skuas, and a lone bearded seal we passed earlier today. A seemingly empty place.
This is far from the unknown sea of 100 years ago where both Russian and European ships disappeared here, never to be found.  However, the security is illusory: ahead of us a stream of sea ice from the main body around the North Pole has moved south along the west side of Severnya Zemlya (the archipelago north of the Taimyr peninsula, the northernmost point of Eurasia), blocking the Northeast Passage for 100km or so.  A Russian ice breaker, Yamal, is keeping us informed on developments and we can sea the ice on satellite images each day, but all this technology will be to no avail unless the ice moves by itself.
It’s quite ironic that even in a year which may break new records for ice loss, the Northeast Passage may not yield.  We are sailing to Dickson and then further north as fast as we can to reach the ice edge, as a change in the wind can break up the pack and drift ice really fast, and the passage become clear.  It also highlights the fact that shipping in this region is hazardous despite the loss of ice: conditions change very fast, and ice, even a small amount, can move incredibly quickly into the path of a vessel.  An accident up here can be very costly indeed.
As we move ever closer to the most difficult part of the journey we reflect also on the extraordinary feat that some of the crew have already undertaken: tonight we celebrated the 5000 nautical miles that Ola, Hannibal, and Niklas have sailed since leaving Stockholm in mid June.  This is a very long expedition!

Northeast passage: Varnak

General, ,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
After approaching the south end of Veygach Island we anchored at 3am outside one of the very rare villages in the Russian arctic, Varnak, and slept. This is Nenets territory: the samoyeds of historical legend, an indigenous people of the region between Archangelsk and Yamal peninsula. In the morning we landed, and met with the community leader and what seemed like the entire village: visitors are exceedingly uncommon, so we (especially dressed in our bright blue goretex ‘smurf suits’) were quite a novelty.
The village has about 100 people, and as was proudly explained, about 40 children, all of whom are shyly watching us from the windows as we pass.  The houses are wooden, ranging in age from early Soviet times to quite new, and either raw timber or painted bright colours, particularly blue.  The single street, ‘Moscow Road’, is a sea of wildflowers with a timber boardwalk footpath – obviously it gets wet underfoot quite often!
Alexander and his two sons offered to take us to see the reinder herd on the tundra about 7km away.  We walked with them across the rolling hills and valleys, glad of our rubber boots in the marshes.  It’s high summer here (despite being only about 5 degrees) and the upper layer of the permafrost is melted so there is plenty of water around.
With summer comes comes a burst of life to the Arctic unseen anywhere else.  24 hours of light ‘supercharges’ the ecology, so the entire annual cycle of reproduction, birth, feeding and growth takes places in a few short weeks.  Wherever we looked we could see evidence of this: lemmings as I have never seen them before, arctic skua families aloft, buzzards, and lots of snowy owls.
Snowy owls rank as one of my favourites birds and in most places I have been are rare.  Here I saw at least 10 without trying, openly sitting on high points in the tundra, or gliding low over hunting grounds.   We were able to approach to about 20 metres without disturbing them. Simply amazing!
Then to see the reindeer, about a thousand, with a single conical felt tent (a ‘chum’) for the herders to live in.  They use a reindeer-drawn sleigh and dogs to round up the stock, fat and healthy on the abundant lichen and grasses.  The animals surge in one mass, huge velvety antlers above them, down the hills and up the other side. When you imagine the weather here for most of the year (very cold, snow-covered and wind swept) you begin to understand the the adaptation of these, the oldest domesticated stock on earth, extraordinary animals.

Varnak reindeer herders

Varnak reindeer herders


The Nenets people of Varnak live simple lives, herding, hunting, and fishing.  They have electricity for light, coal for heating, TV, and a telephone for the village. Perhaps one resupply ship per year (which was due in February, but  hasn’t arrived yet) and few if any visitors. And for most of the year they are subjected to bitter cold and a frozen land.
We bought a few handmade reindeer skin articles, and gave some perhaps token gifts for their kindness in letting us into their lives for a day.  I certainly felt honoured to have met them and seen how they live in a harsh, arctic environment.
Then we returned to the ‘Explorer’, and sailed east through Yugoskiy Shar into the arctic Kara Sea.

Northeast passage: Land ho!

General,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
After 3 days travelling across the south eastern Barents Sea in completely calm and windless conditions we have finally arrived at land, the island of Veygatch.  Its about 200km long and is situated between the huge mass of Novaya Zemlya to the north, and Russia to the south.  The passage between the 2 islands is known as the Kara Gate, as this is the main entrance to the Kara Sea.
The weather has turned to light rain after fine but foggy conditions, and the water temperature has increased to 10 degrees, a reflection of the increasing contribution of warm water flowing into the sea from the huge Russian rivers.  The region we have been travelling across for the last day or so is completely covered in ice in winter but there is not a sign of it now. It’s hard to imagine what it looks like then!
We have been seeing more birds than when we were further out to sea, but not a marked increase.  A few more guillemots, a few ducks, the occasional glaucous gull, a lone arctic skua.  And of course the ever present fulmars.  No more whales or dolphins since day 1.
The crew has settled into a routine of rotating watches, and I find time from midnight to 4am to catch up with ‘office work’, while the boat is quiet and the wheelhouse empty except for Anders and me.  We have been discussing how to deal with the changing time zones and meal and watch times, and it appears that, in good Russian tradition, we’ll stick to Moscow Time on the boat.
Tomorrow will bring our first landing, and hopefully interaction with a small tradtional, and very remote, reindeer herding community.
More soon!

Northeast passage: Why?

General,

This summer, WWF is helping support two expeditions that will take on some of the world’s most difficult waters, to see first-hand the effects of Arctic climate change. One expedition is sailing across the top of Russia, a journey of 6000 nautical miles through the Northeast Passage, while another is attempting a west to east transit of the Northwest Passage, also by sailing boat, a journey of about 7,000 nautical miles.
Tom Arnbom of Sweden was on the ‘Explorer of Sweden’ though the Northeast Passage, as was WWF Arctic Programme Director Neil Hamilton for much of the trip, replaced near the end by WWF polar bear coordinator Geoff York. On the ‘Silent Sound’ Cameron Dueck of the Open Passage Expedition is filing regular stories from the Northwest passage. Come back for photos and stories throughout the summer, and follow the progress of the boats as they follow in the wake of some of history’s most intrepid explorers.
By Neil Hamilton
Friday 7th August, south eastern Barents Sea, lat 69 degrees 58′ long 47 degrees 09′  Air temperature: about 10, water temp 7.8, wind light from NW.
When you go on an expedition such as this, many people ask you why you want to put up with such discomfort and hardship, a complete removal from the certainty of every day life, and even perhaps danger.  For me the answer is simple: to see what is happening to the environment in this remote (to the western world) region, and to communicate this to the world.
We already know the big picture: the Arctic is melting fast. A new study shows that from 2005-2008, temperatures in the central arctic were 5 C above average. The summer sea ice  has decreased by almost half since the 70s. Significant permafrost melting has already taken place. And we now know that these changes are driven by greenhouse gas emissions.
So the reality is that, due to climate change, it is now possible to challenge the Northeast passage by sailboat, and without the support of an icebreaker. This is perhaps the last time an expedition through the passage is a real challenge. In the future the ever melting ice will make sailing through the passage easier and easier and open it up for increased transport, tourism and resource development in this vulnerable region. Taking the sea ice away from the Arctic will cause impacts all the way through the arctic food web, destabilising a system that is already fragile.
On this journey we will try to bring this unfamiliar world to you and explain why the changes we are seeing are important. With the Copenhagen climate conference approaching fast, and the need for improving the environmental governance of the Arctic ever increasing, our journey comes just in time.