Climate change study canceled due to climate change
Hazardous ice conditions in the Canadian Arctic melted hopes for the next leg of a $17 million scientific study.
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It sounds like an Onion headline.
The team from Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen has had to cancel the first part of its 2017 expedition "due to complications associated with the southward motion of hazardous Arctic sea ice, caused by climate change," reports the University of Manitoba, which is leading the study.
The science team of the research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen, shown here, had to cancel part of its study.
In short, part of a climate change study was canceled due to ... climate change.
The decision has postponed the $17 million Hudson Bay System study, a four-year project involving 40 scientists from five Canadian universities. Ice conditions meant the ship would arrive too late on site to meet research objectives, the university reports.
The scientists used the Amundsen's equipment to confirm that a large amount of the sea ice originated from the high Arctic, and collected data on the ice, ocean and atmosphere in the area for further research.
"Climate-related changes in Arctic sea ice not only reduce its extent and thickness but also increase its mobility, meaning that ice conditions are likely to become more variable and severe conditions such as these will occur more often," said David Barber, expedition chief scientist.
But science isn't giving up.
"This extremely unfortunate event is not expected to affect the remainder of the 2017 Amundsen Expedition resuming on July 6," said Louis Fortier, scientific director of the Amundsen and ArcticNet Science programs.