Tough Times For Sea Ice Melt Enthusiasts…

NZ Willy says: September 7, 2013 at 8:13 pm
…but as for icebreakers, as I’ve said before, they are irrelevant to the Arctic ice extent. The one-dimensional paths are far too tiny a footprint on the two-dimensional ice.
Why would we invest so much money in icebreakers is they didn’t work, e.g.:

Seeing the Canadian Coast Guard’s signature red ships along the shores of Lake Ontario is a sure sign that spring is on its way.
To help speed up this process, the coast guard has an icebreaking program created to ensure that most Canadian ports are able to operate year-round without interruption, allowing vessels to make their scheduled deliveries on time.
The coast guard has a fleet of 18 icebreakers, each having its own route within Canadian and international waters, and all designed to handle varying ice conditions. Their main purpose is to guide marine vessels through ice during the depths of winter.
Among the fleet is the Griffon, one of the two Canadian icebreakers designated to work on the Great Lakes.
The Griffon made its way through the region Friday and plans to stick around until at least Monday to break the ice in the surrounding ports, such as Picton and Bath.
Ron Gallant, the commanding officer of the Griffon for the past 20 years, said that while they have regularly scheduled operations, they also work upon request.”
“The Griffon’s primary duties are icebreaking and navigational aid servicing, although the ship can also be requested for search and rescue missions, environmental response, maritime security and scientific research activities. There are 25 crew members aboard the Griffon, including nine officers. Its home port is Prescott.
The Griffon breaks ice in the spring on Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River at the same time every year for a variety of reasons, said Gallant. In addition to the economic benefits of ensuring vessels can operate uninterruptedly, Gallant said it’s also important to prevent any environmental effects of the ice forming and potentially breaking off.”
“There can be environmental reasons we do it if there are issues of flooding in the Detroit or St. Clair River area,” he said. “We’ve had requests over the years to go up over the Grand River in Lake Erie when ice is blocked and there’s flooding that affects the rivers, so in that sense there’s an environmental component to our operation, but the main thing is for the Canadian economy.”
That’s precisely why the light icebreaking vessel is in the area this time around.
The ice it broke Friday in Picton was approximately a foot thick, and if Gallant and the Griffon had not been available to take the call, the ship requesting assistance would have had to wait for the ice to thaw naturally.
“The ship was trying to get through, but it didn’t have enough strength or enough time,” said Gallant. “There was probably damage, so (if we weren’t around), they were probably going to have to wait until the ice had melted to be able to get through, which will be in about two or three weeks from now.”
Gallant says the coast guard also works in conjunction with the United States Coast Guard to “provide a seamless service to ships on both sides of the border.”
Despite the importance of breaking ice, Gallant said there actually isn’t much to the process.
“The weight of the vessel and horsepower and a very, very strongly built hull is how we break the ice,” he said. “That’s all it is. Horsepower and a lot of steel to protect the ship.”

And it is not just the Ice Breakers:

“Spring break-up to mark the start of summer navigation will vary and, as happens now in more southerly seas, shippers eager to start work will test the limits of their vessels in ice.”
“There were approximately 6,000 individual vessels, many making multiple voyages, in the Arctic region during the AMSA survey year; half of these were operating on the Great Circle Route in the North Pacific that crosses the Aleutian Islands. Of the 6,000 vessels reported, approximately 1,600 were fishing vessels.”
“The AMSA has developed the world’s first activity-based estimate of Arctic marine shipping emissions using empirical data for shipping reported by Arctic Council member states. Emissions were calculated for each vessel-trip for which data was available for the base year 2004. The 515,000 trips analyzed represent about 14.2 million km of distance traveled (or 7.7 million nautical miles) by transport vessels; fishing vessels represent over 15,000 fishing vessel days at sea for 2004. Some results could be an underestimation of current emissions, given potential underreporting bias and anecdotal reports of recent growth in international shipping and trade through the Arctic.”
“A specific example of where cruise ship traffic is increasing at a rapid rate is off the coast of Greenland. As Table 5.3 shows, cruise ship visits and the number of passengers visiting Greenland has increased significantly between 2003 and 2008. For example, between 2006 and 2007, port calls into Greenland increased from 157 to 222 cruise ships. The number of port calls in 2006 combined for a total of 22,051 passengers, a number that represents nearly half of Greenland’s total 2006 population of 56,901.
In 2008, approximately 375 cruise ship port calls were scheduled for Greenland ports and harbors, more than double the number of port calls seen in 2006.”
“The 2004 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy reported that, while at sea, the average cruise-ship passenger generates about eight gallons of sewage per day and an average cruise ship can generate a total of 532,000 to 798,000 liters of sewage and 3.8 million liters of wastewater from sinks, showers and laundries each week, as well as large amounts of solid waste (garbage). The average cruise ship will also produce more than 95,000 liters of oily bilge water from engines and machinery a week. Sewage, solid waste and oily bilge water release are regulated through MARPOL. There are no restrictions on the release of treated wastewater.”
http://www.pame.is/images/stories/PDF_Files/AMSA_2009_Report_2nd_print.pdf