Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up his annual tour of the North on Friday amid fresh signs that the region has experienced another major meltdown this summer, including the renewed opening of the southern route of the Northwest Passage and a severe overall ice retreat still threatening to smash 2007′s record-setting thaw.
The Canadian Ice Service confirmed Friday that a southerly shipping route through Canada’s Arctic islands can now be safely navigated, though shifting winds could quickly send ice floes into a key strait near Nunavut’s Victoria Island and complicate any voyage through the Northwest Passage.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Center has released data showing total Arctic ice is once again retreating below the five-million-square-kilometre mark, meaning the five greatest melts since satellite measurements began in the late 1970s have occurred in the past five years.
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