Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness
Arctic navigation has become operational in recent decades with the decline in summer sea ice. To assess the navigability of trans-Arctic passages, combined model and satellite sea ice thickness (CMST) data covering both freezing seasons and melting seasons are integrated with the Arctic Transportat...
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/22642 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142766 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/22642 2023-05-15T14:23:16+02:00 Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness Zhou, Xiangying Min, Chao Yang, Yijun Landy, Jack Christopher Mu, Longjiang Yang, Qinghua 2021-07-14 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/22642 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142766 eng eng MDPI Remote Sensing Norges forskningsråd: 237906 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SFI/237906/Norway/Centre for Integrated Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations/CIRFA/ Zhou, Min C, Yang, Landy JC, Mu L, Yang Q. Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness. Remote Sensing. 2021;13(14):2766 FRIDAID 1929088 doi:10.3390/rs13142766 2072-4292 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/22642 openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2021 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142766 2021-09-29T22:53:54Z Arctic navigation has become operational in recent decades with the decline in summer sea ice. To assess the navigability of trans-Arctic passages, combined model and satellite sea ice thickness (CMST) data covering both freezing seasons and melting seasons are integrated with the Arctic Transportation Accessibility Model (ATAM). The trans-Arctic navigation window and transit time are thereby obtained daily from modeled sea ice fields constrained by satellite observations. Our results indicate that the poorest navigability conditions for the maritime Arctic occurred in 2013 and 2014, particularly in the Northwest Passage (NWP) with sea ice blockage. The NWP has generally exhibited less favorable navigation conditions and shorter navigable windows than the Northern Sea Route (NSR). For instance, in 2013, Open Water (OW) vessels that can only safely resist ice with a thickness under 15 cm had navigation windows of 47 days along the NSR (45% shorter than the 2011–2016 mean) and only 13 days along the NWP (80% shorter than the 2011–2016 mean). The longest navigation windows were in 2011 and 2015, with lengths of 103 and 107 days, respectively. The minimum transit time occurred in 2012, when more northward routes were accessible, especially in the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea with the sea ice edge retreated. The longest navigation windows for Polar Class 6 (PC6) vessels with a resistance to ice thickness up to 120 cm reached more than 200 days. PC6 vessels cost less transit time and exhibit less fluctuation in their navigation windows compared with OW vessels because of their ice-breaking capability. Finally, we found that restricted navigation along the NSR in 2013 and 2014 was related to the shorter periods of navigable days in the East Siberian Sea and Vilkitskogo Strait, with local blockages of thick ice having a disproportionate impact on the total transit. Shorter than usual navigable windows in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Beaufort Sea shortened the windows for entire routes of the NWP in 2013 and 2014. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Archipelago Arctic Beaufort Sea Canadian Arctic Archipelago East Siberian Sea laptev Laptev Sea Northern Sea Route Northwest passage Sea ice University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Canadian Arctic Archipelago East Siberian Sea ENVELOPE(166.000,166.000,74.000,74.000) Laptev Sea Northwest Passage Remote Sensing 13 14 2766 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 Zhou, Xiangying Min, Chao Yang, Yijun Landy, Jack Christopher Mu, Longjiang Yang, Qinghua Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450 |
description |
Arctic navigation has become operational in recent decades with the decline in summer sea ice. To assess the navigability of trans-Arctic passages, combined model and satellite sea ice thickness (CMST) data covering both freezing seasons and melting seasons are integrated with the Arctic Transportation Accessibility Model (ATAM). The trans-Arctic navigation window and transit time are thereby obtained daily from modeled sea ice fields constrained by satellite observations. Our results indicate that the poorest navigability conditions for the maritime Arctic occurred in 2013 and 2014, particularly in the Northwest Passage (NWP) with sea ice blockage. The NWP has generally exhibited less favorable navigation conditions and shorter navigable windows than the Northern Sea Route (NSR). For instance, in 2013, Open Water (OW) vessels that can only safely resist ice with a thickness under 15 cm had navigation windows of 47 days along the NSR (45% shorter than the 2011–2016 mean) and only 13 days along the NWP (80% shorter than the 2011–2016 mean). The longest navigation windows were in 2011 and 2015, with lengths of 103 and 107 days, respectively. The minimum transit time occurred in 2012, when more northward routes were accessible, especially in the Laptev Sea and East Siberian Sea with the sea ice edge retreated. The longest navigation windows for Polar Class 6 (PC6) vessels with a resistance to ice thickness up to 120 cm reached more than 200 days. PC6 vessels cost less transit time and exhibit less fluctuation in their navigation windows compared with OW vessels because of their ice-breaking capability. Finally, we found that restricted navigation along the NSR in 2013 and 2014 was related to the shorter periods of navigable days in the East Siberian Sea and Vilkitskogo Strait, with local blockages of thick ice having a disproportionate impact on the total transit. Shorter than usual navigable windows in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Beaufort Sea shortened the windows for entire routes of the NWP in 2013 and 2014. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zhou, Xiangying Min, Chao Yang, Yijun Landy, Jack Christopher Mu, Longjiang Yang, Qinghua |
author_facet |
Zhou, Xiangying Min, Chao Yang, Yijun Landy, Jack Christopher Mu, Longjiang Yang, Qinghua |
author_sort |
Zhou, Xiangying |
title |
Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness |
title_short |
Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness |
title_full |
Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness |
title_fullStr |
Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness |
title_full_unstemmed |
Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness |
title_sort |
revisiting trans-arctic maritime navigability in 2011–2016 from the perspective of sea ice thickness |
publisher |
MDPI |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/22642 https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142766 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(166.000,166.000,74.000,74.000) |
geographic |
Arctic Canadian Arctic Archipelago East Siberian Sea Laptev Sea Northwest Passage |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canadian Arctic Archipelago East Siberian Sea Laptev Sea Northwest Passage |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Archipelago Arctic Beaufort Sea Canadian Arctic Archipelago East Siberian Sea laptev Laptev Sea Northern Sea Route Northwest passage Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Archipelago Arctic Beaufort Sea Canadian Arctic Archipelago East Siberian Sea laptev Laptev Sea Northern Sea Route Northwest passage Sea ice |
op_relation |
Remote Sensing Norges forskningsråd: 237906 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SFI/237906/Norway/Centre for Integrated Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations/CIRFA/ Zhou, Min C, Yang, Landy JC, Mu L, Yang Q. Revisiting Trans-Arctic Maritime Navigability in 2011–2016 from the Perspective of Sea Ice Thickness. Remote Sensing. 2021;13(14):2766 FRIDAID 1929088 doi:10.3390/rs13142766 2072-4292 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/22642 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142766 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
14 |
container_start_page |
2766 |
_version_ |
1766295829690187776 |