Ice in Frobisher Bay causing headaches for ships, coast guard
Last Updated: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 3:01 PM CT
CBC News
There's more ice floating in Frobisher Bay this summer, creating more work for the Canadian coast guard and causing headaches for at least one cruise ship operator trying to travel to the Arctic.
An iceberg floats near the breakwater in Iqaluit earlier this week. (Photo courtesy Janice Seto)The Canadian Ice Service says two icebergs currently floating near Iqaluit are a sign of unusually heavy ice conditions at the mouth of the bay.
Forecasters with the service say chunks of multi-year sea ice have floated down from Cumberland Sound, when the ice bridge there broke up earlier than usual this year.
Tides and winds pushed that slow-melting sea ice into Frobisher Bay, where it's been floating around since.
"Mother Nature has a tendency to bring in weather systems that will actually push the ice onshore or offshore. And depending on what time this onshore-offshore flow takes place, it may actually bring in significant more ice than typical, which is what we've seen in early June," Luc Desjardins, an ice and iceberg forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service, told CBC News.
"This situation hasn't resolved itself into a back-to-normal situation."
It has kept the coast guard busier than usual, escorting ships in and out of Frobisher Bay. The coast guard icebreaker Terry Fox is helping ships manoeuvre through 60 kilometres of heavy ice.
Normally, vessels would have been able to sail through the bay on their own, Capt. Michel Champagne said.
"When we started at the end of the month, there was so much ice and the pressure that we couldn't make any progress; we had to stop," Champagne said.
"But the way the ice is right now, the only thing that's going to do is it might delay us, but we're still going to be able to get through."
Tight schedule jeopardized
Even delays can be a problem for Jan Kroskowski, an agent for the Dutch cruise ship Alexander Von Humboldt. The ship is supposed to travel to Frobisher Bay this week as part of a tight schedule that includes stops in Iqaluit and Labrador.
But Kroskowski said waiting for an icebreaker to escort the Alexander Von Humboldt through the bay would throw off the cruise ship's entire schedule. With the vessel currently in Iceland, officials are deciding whether it should skip Canada altogether.
"If we will not clear the ship, then probably the vessel will be cruising somewhere around out there, and they will be going back to Europe," Kroskowski said.
Desjardins said a heat wave in Iqaluit this week should improve ice conditions, but the long-range ice forecast calls for winds and cold weather, which could blow ice back into Frobisher Bay again.
