Arctic Shipping.
Nowhere are the impacts of climate change more visible than in the Polar Regions, where warmer temperatures have contributed to the significant decrease of both first year and multi year sea ice in the past few decades. Not only do these changes represent a threat to the stability of northern ecosystems, they also impact the lifestyle of local Inuit peoples. In fact, a longer navigable season in the Arctic may benefit northern communities economically, as shipping goods by sea is much cheaper than by air. In fact, the number of active vessels in the Canadian Arctic has been on the rise in the past few decades.
On an industrial and commercial standpoint, the melting Arctic provides opportunities for northern resource developments that were previously unattainable. Transit traffic through the Arctic will likely increase, as maritime routes such as the Northwest Passage and the Artic Bridge become more accessible, warranting a shorter route between Europe and Asia. The lengthening of the navigable season is also encouraging an increase in cruise tourism and private yacht ventures.
Arctic Shipping Projects
The projects under this section aim to understand new and shifting shipping trends in the Arctic, and to develop a comprehensive database that will include any information relating to shipping activities such as tourist destinations, sensitive areas, marine mammal migratory trends and traditional use of the water by Inuit peoples. Ultimately, this research initiative will create an indispensable tool for policy makers, helping them in regulating activities in the north, and in protecting local peoples and the environment, and in promoting sustainable development strategies for our emerging northern economy.
ESPG RESEARCH
ARCTIC SHIPPING AND OCEANS GOVERNANCE
ESPG RESEARCH
WWIC AND SHIP NAVIGATION
ESPG RESEARCH
CLIMATE CHANGE AND ARCTIC SHIPPING
ESPG RESEARCH
SHIP ICE INTERACTIONS & NAVIGATION RISKS
ESPG RESEARCH
HEAVY FUEL OIL AND SHIPPING IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC
ESPG RESEARCH
IMPACT OF SHIP-SOURCE NOISE FOR MARINE MAMMALS
ESPG RESEARCH
ARCTIC CORRIDORS AND NORTHERN VOICES
ESPG RESEARCH
CATAW
ESPG RESEARCH
SEA ICE PRESSURE EVENTS
ARCTIC SHIPPING AND OCEANS GOVERNANCE
Funded by: The Pew Charitable Trusts & The Canada Research Chairs Program (2020 – 2021)
Dr. Jackie Dawson & Dr. Natalie Carter (uOttawa)
This project is co-led by Dr. Jackie Dawson and Dr. Natalie Carter. The purpose of this study is to identify and evaluate innovative potential governance strategies that can aid in the effective management of Canada’s growing Arctic marine vessel traffic through a Low Impact Shipping Corridors approach. This research will provide important information on the current opportunities and challenges for governing marine vessel traffic in the region. This study involves identifying and evaluating 1) governance and management options/priorities for corridors that include Inuit and Northerners; 2) temporal and spatial historic ship traffic patterns for passenger vessels (cruise ships) and pleasure craft (yachts) and the extent to which tourism vessels utilize low impact shipping corridors; 3) the utility of low impact shipping corridors for tourism vessels; and, 4) suggestions for alternative and/or supplementary management options about the location and management of the low impact shipping corridors.
Photo Credit: Canadian Coast Guard
WWIC AND SHIP NAVIGATION
Funded by: New Frontiers – Tri Council, ArcticNet, MEOPAR, & The Canada Research Chairs Program (2019 – 2021)
Dr. Jean Holloway, Dr. Jackie Dawson, Annika Stensland (uOttawa), Jelmer Jeuring (Norwegian Meteorological Institute), Machiel Lamers (Wageningen University), and Brent Else (University of Calgary)
Climate change is causing rapid changes to the Arctic environment, including a substantial reduction in sea ice extent and thickness, as well as an increase in ice mobility. As a consequence of reduced ice extent, shipping through the Arctic has increased considerably over the past several decades. At the same time, there is growing concern about the risks involved in increased maritime traffic in this region, and indeed there are many examples of incidents in the last several years (e.g. a sailboat sank in 2018).
Ships rely on up to date weather, water, ice, and climate (WWIC) information when planning routes and operating within ice infested waters. However, it is currently unknown whether or not user needs are being adequately identified and addressed by providers and whether WWIC services are adding value to users. For example, operators in the Artic often need real-time observations and data products because conditions change so rapidly, and these are not often available. Further, data needs to be communicated in a format that is relevant to users, particularly due to limited communications infrastructure. For WWIC data to be valuable and used, it must be trusted, easily understood, accessible.
This project aims to address the current usability gap by conducting a survey targeting ship operators in the Canadian Arctic, with the goal of improving the value chain of WWIC information. What forecasting models are mariners using? Where are they using them? Do they find certain information more or less reliable? By identifying user needs, we aim to stimulate the co-production of data products. Operators rely heavily on past experience for decision-making, and the system would benefit from a two-way user-producer relationship.
Photo Credit: Jackie Dawson
CLIMATE CHANGE AND ARCTIC SHIPPING
Funded by: ArcticNet, NSERC, and The Canada Research Chairs Program (2019 – 2021)
Dr. Jackie Dawson (uOttawa), Dr. Steve Howell, Dr. Chris Derksen, Dr. Mike Brady & Dr. Tom Zagon (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
Reductions in Arctic sea ice driven by climate change has enhanced accessibility and facilitated increased total shipping traffic volumes across the Arctic. In this project we examine the relative role of climate change in enabling and / or driving shipping traffic change in the Arctic with a specific focus on the Canadian Arctic. We use different approaches to understand historic and observed changes and also use climate model simulations to investigate changing navigability in the future. For the Canadian Arctic we examine projected changes in season length for major trade routes, coastal community resupply and pleasure craft shipping routes under 1°, 2°, and 4°C of global warming above preindustrial, and based on operational Polar Code regulations.
Photo Credit: Annika Ogilvie
SHIP ICE INTERACTIONS & NAVIGATION RISKS
Funded by: Transport Canada & The Canada Research Chairs Program (2019 – 2021)
Dr. Jackie Dawson, Dr. Alison Cook, Dr. Jane Holloway, Dr. Luke Copland (uOttawa), Dr. Adrienne Tivy & Frances Delaney (Environment and Climate Change Canada)
This project included a series of studies collectively funded by Transport Canada, with support from MEOPAR, Clear Seas, and ArcticNet. The purpose of these studies was to examine the potential navigational challenges for Arctic ship operations as a result of reductions of sea ice extent and thickness and increased mobility of hazardous sea ice. These studies examined the spatial details of shipping traffic by Ice Class that transited the NORDREG zone between 1990 – 2018, and examined the areas identified as ‘choke points’ to analyze the changing levels of risks to ships by comparing historic ship traffic data and their Ice Class. The findings show that since 1990 the percent composition of highly strengthened vessels has decreased, while vessels with less ice strengthening has increased. There are also many more voyages by non-ice strengthened ships now occurring throughout the Northwest Passage.
Photo Credit: Canadian Coast Guard
HEAVY FUEL OIL AND SHIPPING IN THE CANADIAN ARCTIC
Funded by: MEOPAR & The Canada Research Chairs Program (2019 – 2020)
Dr. Nicolien van Luijk, Dr. Jackie Dawson & Dr. Alison Cook (uOttawa)
In 2018, The International Maritime Organization, officially proposed consideration of a ban on heavy fuel oil (HFO) use by ships in the Arctic, because of the widely accepted understanding that HFO presents a threat to the marine environment. In this project, we conducted a spatial analysis of HFO use among ships operating in Canadian Arctic waters between 2010 and 2018. Our findings show that approximately 37% of the total number of ships that have travelled through the Canadian Arctic between 2010 and 2018 use HFO, and nearly all of these ships fall within three vessel categories: general cargo, bulk carriers, and tanker ships. In addition, HFO-fueled ships made up approximately 45% of the total distance (kilometres) travelled by all vessels between 2010 and 2018. The spatial data shows that there are concentrated areas of the Canadian Arctic that experience the vast majority of HFO use, which has changed over time. This research provides important insight and understanding of HFO use in the Canadian Arctic, which is crucial to generating policy that takes into account the potential implications of HFO use and/or ban on Canadian Arctic communities.
Photo Credit: Annika Ogilvie
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF SHIP-SOURCE NOISE FOR MARINE MAMMALS IN TALLURUTIUP IMANGA NATIONAL MARINE CONSERVATION AREA
Funded by: MEOPAR, Clear Seas, with support from ArcticNet, The Nunavut General Monitoring Program, and The Canada Research Chairs Program (2018 – 2020)
Zuzia Kochanowicz, Dr. Jackie Dawson, Dr. Luke Copland, Dr. Michael Sawada (uOttawa), & Dr. William Halliday (University of Victoria).
Tallurutiup Imanga (TI), a unique National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) which is home to rich wildlife and culture, is located in the heart of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and has experienced some of the most rapid increases in vessel traffic in the region over the past two decades. The focus of this thesis research was to examine the potential impacts of underwater noise from ships on marine mammals in the Tallurutiup Imanga NMCA. The approach taken involved: 1) examining historic spatial and temporal vessel traffic trends in the area of interest from 1990 to 2018, using the Canadian Coast Guard ship archive data for the Northern Canada Vessel Traffic Service (NORDREG) Zone, 2) conducting an in-depth analysis of recent traffic trends (2015-18) using spatially precise Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel traffic data, 3) creating underwater noise profiles using in an acoustic model to produce received level values cumulatively for all vessels and also for all vessels within a single class, 4) identifying behavioural disturbance events as 500 metre cells where the received level was equal to 120 dB, which is the behavioural disturbance threshold for marine mammals defined National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and 5) overlaying acoustic model outputs with important areas for marine mammals to understand the spatial extent of ship-source underwater noise impacts in TI. The aim of this research was to inform our understanding of potential underwater noise risks to marine mammal, and to support ongoing environmental management and governance efforts that could be used to provide evidence-based decision making for future mitigation of the NMCA.
Photo Credit: Jackie Dawson
ARCTIC CORRIDORS AND NORTHERN VOICES
Funded by: ArcticNet, Clear Seas, The Canada Research Chairs Program, Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Irving Ship Building Inc., Marine Environment Observation Prediction and Response Network (MEOPAR), Northern Scientific Training Program Nunavut Arctic College, Nunavut General Monitoring Program, Nunavut Research Institute, Ocean’s North, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Students for Canada’s North, SSHRC, and WWF-Canada (2015 – 2020)
Dr. Jackie Dawson & Dr. Natalie Carter (uOttawa) (For full list of collaborators please see website)
As shipping growth continues in Arctic Canada there is a need for governance options that support safe and sustainable operations. In response, the Government of Canada is developing low impact shipping corridors designed to voluntarily route traffic in areas where infrastructure and services could be prioritized. One of the major gaps in the establishment of the corridors was the omission of Inuit knowledge in their design. The approach also lacked consideration of Inuit and northern perspectives on culturally significant marine areas. The ACNV project filled this important gap by working closely with the Government of Canada and with Inuit leaders and communities in order to: 1) extend a long-term geo-spatial ship track database (1990-present) in Arctic Canada, 2) identify temporal and spatial shipping trends and established zones of high and low use, 3) document Culturally Significant Marine Areas; and 4) establish potential management strategies for low impact shipping corridors. The ACNV website can be accessed here.
Photo Credit: Meet the North
CLIMATE CHANGE AND ADAPTATION ASSESSMENT FOR TRANSPORTATION IN ARCTIC WATERS (CATAW)
Funded by: Transport Canada & The Canada Research Chairs Program (2013 – 2018)
Lindsay Matthews, Larissa Pizzolato (Environment and Climate Change Canada), Dr. Jackie Dawson, Dr. Luke Copland (uOttawa), & Dr. Margaret Johnston (Lakehead University)
This Transport Canada-funded study involved; 1) the development of a longitudinal Arctic ship track database, 2) statistical analysis of the correlation between sea ice change and ship track changes, and 3) identification and evaluation of adaptation strategies for Arctic shipping growth in Arctic Canada. The development of the first geospatial database of historic ship trends was monumental as it enables, for the first time, statistically significant analysis to be conducted due to the long-term nature of the dataset. This dataset continues to be used in a variety of studies and has facilitated more than 10 peer-reviewed publications and technical reports thus far.
Photo Credit: Canadian Coast Guard
SEA ICE PRESSURE EVENTS
(2015 – 2017)
Olivia Mussells (Oceans North), Dr. Steve Howell (Environment and Climate Change Canada), Climate Research Division) Dr. Jackie Dawson (uOttawa), Dr. Andrea Scott, Dr. David Clausi, Dr. Paul Myers (University of Waterloo), Dr. Christian Haas (Alfred-Wegener Institute), & Dr. Randall Scharien (University of Victoria)
Pressured and ridged ice is a dangerous hazard facing ships in the Arctic. Ships can become stuck or beset in these conditions, which is environmentally and economically costly. Understanding where and when ridges form as a result of pressured ice is important for ensuring safe winter shipping operations; however, there have been few studies to date regarding the distribution of ridges and their impacts within a geographic region. The Hudson Strait, which connects Hudson Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, is the site of ongoing winter shipping, where vessels frequently encounter pressured ice. This project addresses two questions: where and when do ridges occur in the Hudson Strait and what are their impacts on an ice strengthened vessel traveling through the Strait. Thesis can be found here. This project also led to several papers (see publications).
Photo Credit: Luke Copland