Gap analysis of expected time of rescue and anticipated performance of life saving appliances in the Canadian Arctic

• Main Authors: Power, Jonathan, Piercey, Caitlin, Neville, Michael
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: National Research Council of Canada. Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.4224/40002042; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=0f9e1acd-afef-4575-ba36-4e81795f4e7b

Historically, the Canadian Arctic has seen little marine activity except for that of the local people who lived there, the seasonal shipping activities to support mining operations, and the annual sealift for the northern coastal communities. This was mostly due to the highly isolated and harsh environment, including significant pack ice that made much of the region inaccessible. This has changed in recent years as the reduction of sea ice in the Arctic has opened up new pathways to transit through the once near impassable environment. These new pathways have resulted in an increase in marine traffic to the region, though primarily limited to the summer months. As can be seen in Figure 1, most of the marine activity in 2017 typically consists of destination traffic rather than transit passages. Recent mining development activities have resulted in large increases in shipping activity in the Eastern Canadian Arctic in particular, which will likely continue to grow as those operations ramp up. : Technical Report (National Research Council of Canada. Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering), NRC-OCRE-TR-002