Scientists aboard the Amundsen research icebreaker say they were shocked by the lack of ice during their recent trip through Canada's Northwest Passage.

The icebreaker spent the last two months travelling from Eastern Arctic waters through to the Beaufort Sea in the west and back again to Baffin Island's Frobisher Bay, where it set anchor Monday.

The Amundsen icebreaker didn't have to use its muscle to get through the Northwest Passage this fall.
(CBC News)

Department of Fisheries and Oceans scientist Dr. Gary Stern said there was open water from start to finish, including the route's most northerly point at 72 degrees north, and in the west.

"Then as we moved our way further east, we managed to actually get through Bellot Strait and Hecla and Fury Strait as well with virtually no ice," Stern said. "Again that is unprecedented at this time of the year."

However less and later ice is not necessarily all bad news, said Simon Awa, Nunavut's deputy minister of environment.

It already means a longer boating season and shorter winters, requiring less energy consumption, Awa said.

"[Of] course there might be some negative impacts which we have to address in terms of adaptation," he said. "Meaning for the hunters, the wildlife might be moving somewhere else and all that stuff."

The government plans to hold a workshop in December on climate change adaptation, he said.

The ship's arrival in Iqaluit coincided with a report from Britain that estimated climate change could cost the world $7 trillion and urged bold action on greenhouse gas emissions.