THE ICE-BREAKER LOUIS SAINT LAURENT IN RESOLUTE BAY, Nunavut Territory, Canada
N 76°08’ E 96°21’ Card 170x120mm with recycled envelope and biodegradable cello. Detailed caption on the reverse of the card. Card is blank for your own message.
Ice-breakers exist to keep sea routes open. The Louis Saint Laurent has been in service since 1969, and is the largest and the oldest ship of this type working in Canada. She has a reinforced hull, extremely powerful engines (20,000 hp) and a protruding stem which enable her to penetrate and shatter ice fields with her weight. From Baffin Bay to the Beaufort Sea, these powerful icebreakers are required to keep the most northerly human settlements supplied by sea. The northern icecap is being affected by global warming, and the ice is tending to become fragile and shrink more and more, which can sometimes lead to the production of enormous icebergs that endanger shipping. By 2020, the summer ice fields will have disappeared if the current rates of melting continue. However, in time, the disappearance of the ice may bring with it advantages to some countries such as Russia and Canada, such as faster communications between America, Europe and Russia by far northern sea-routes, and the possibility of easier access to new areas rich in natural resources.
© Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Altitude - www.yannarthusbertrand.org - www.goodplanet.org
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