A research voyage to study climate change in the Arctic has had to be called off because of… climate change in the Arctic, the Globe and Mail reports.
Forty scientists were forced to cancel their spring trip north when the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Amundsen, which was to carry them to Hudson Bay, was instead occupied assisting fishing boats and other vessels trapped in ice off southern Labrador. “The ice usually doesn’t travel so far south at this time of year,” the news outlet reports, but “warming temperatures have filled the sea off northern Newfoundland with hazardous ice up to eight metres thick.
“This is climate change fully in action—affecting our ability to make use of marine resources and transport things.” said David Barber, the aborted expedition’s chief scientist. “Normally conditions aren’t so bad. I have been in the Arctic for 35 years, and this is one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had.”
