Global Warming and the Northwest Passage

According to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, the geographic North Pole and the Arctic waterways could be ice-free this summer for the first time in recorded history. The Northwest Passage, a much-sought-after trade route opened briefly last September for the first time and could have clear seas this summer on a more permanent basis.

The Northwest Passage is a winding route forged around islands in the Arctic Sea that provides a much more direct route from Europe to the west coast of North America and to Asia beyond that. Most modern journeys through the Northwest Passage require the assistance of an ice-breaker to clear the waterway of ice. The phenomenon of global warming could change all that and the Northwest Passage and the surrounding islands could shed their snow and ice this year and reveal clues to one of the most enduring mysteries of the 19^th century.

The Northwest Passage was first successfully navigated in 1905 by Roald Amundsen and his crew. A hundred years prior to that, theories on the existence of the passage abounded and many other adventurers tried to find the Passage unsuccessfully. No expedition was more of an enduring mystery than that of Sir John Franklin in 1845.

Franklin set off from England with two ships and 128 crew and officers. By 1948, it was clear to the Franklin expedition backers and family members that something had gone awry and that Franklin and his crew must be stranded somewhere on the banks of the Northwest Passage. Many would-be rescuers followed Franklin's route over the next decade and many stories from the native Inuit told tales of small bands of white men dragging sleds and rowboats over the ice of the Northwest Passage.

There was no sign of Franklin or his crew until 1858 where a rescue party found an encampment littered with graves and bodies, some clearly cannibalized after death. Along with the bodies, piles of abandoned clothing, full tins of canned meats, and sleds full of assorted useless knickknacks were found. The clothing and food was puzzling to the rescuers as it had been assumed to that point that Franklin and his crew had become stuck in the ice of the Northwest Passage and subsequently died of hunger.

It wasn't until 1985 that a researcher discovered the frozen graves of three of Franklin's men perfectly preserved in the permafrost. Autopsies showed all three men had succumbed to lead poisoning from the solder in the tins of canned food. This was an important clue to the odd assortment of items found with the encampment. Lead poisoning causes mental confusion prior to death. It is possible that Franklin's crew lost their ability to reason and made disastrous choices that ultimately killed them, like shedding clothes and not eating.

The one item still sought after by modern-day Franklin researchers is the ships' logs and other official paperwork that has never been found. These documents may still lie beneath the frost and snow on the banks of the Northwest Passage patiently awaiting global warming to uncover them and reveal the Franklin expedition's journey into death.

Sources:
http://nsidc.org/
http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/franklife.html