What is it like to spend a month on a multipurpose icebreaker sailing through the Northwest Passage? How does global warming affect the sea and ice conditions near the North Pole? How does it feel to spend a month on an icebreaker cruising through uninhabited regions?

Arctia’s multipurpose icebreaker Nordica will transit the
Northwest Passage (NWP) this July. The NWP is a sea route connecting the northern
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
The vessel departs Vancouver, Canada, on July 5th and will arrive in Nuuk,
Greenland, before August 1st. To celebrate the centenary of Finland’s independence
in 2017 and Finland’s first year as Chair of the Arctic Council, Arctia Ltd. has
invited Finnish and international researchers on board MSV Nordica during this
Arctic 100 Expedition.

You can follow the Expedition on
the Facebook blog @Arctic100Expedition
and on Instagram and Twitter by using hashtags
#Arctic100 and #Nordica.
The blog will serve as a diary for the crew and participants of the
Expedition.

One of the explorers is Ari
Laakso, science communicator at the University of Lapland’s Arctic
Centre, who will be writing a travel journal together with researcher
Ilona Mettiäinen on the Arctic Centre Facebook pages
@ArcticCentre
and on Twitter @Arctic_Centre.

“I am interested in learning what it is like to spend
three weeks on an icebreaker, what it involves, and what kind of things we will
encounter. I will interview the ship crew and the researchers on the expedition, and
observe what the Northwest Passage looks like in the summer of 2017. I will also
make some observations on Arctic technology”, Laakso says.

Expedition reaches out to deepen international and local
dialogue in the field of Arctic research

International polar expeditions during transit voyages of commercial icebreakers are
very rare. This Expedition demonstrates the idea of jointly using all icebreakers
around the world, not only the limited number of national polar research vessels,
for research purposes in polar areas. In addition to taking researchers on board
during transit voyages, icebreaker operators could in the future charter vessels to
joint ventures of multiple research institutes in a flexible way. Arctia Ltd. wants
to be in the forefront of this new way of thinking: pooling and sharing of Arctic
assets.

During the Expedition, the vessel’s crew and the
experts on board will observe ice conditions and develop international ties between
business, academia and First Nations of the Arctic. The Expedition also reaches out
to deepen international and local dialogue in the field of Arctic research. This is
MSV Nordica’s second transit through the NWP and it is conducted in cooperation with
the Canadian Coast Guard, Transport Canada, Martech Polar, Nunavut Impact Review
Board, and the Nunavut Fisheries and Marine Training Consortium.

About two years ago Arctia Ltd. invited over 100 universities and research
institutes around the world to join in planning and executing the Arctic 100
Expedition. The concept was new to the research world, and because of the tight
schedule for making the decision on and preparing for a transit through the NWP,
many institutes especially with meteorological, biological and other natural science
research interests were unable to join the Expedition.

However, the Finnish Meteorological Institutes’ (FMI) new ice and weather service
concepts are tested for user experience during the Expedition. The FMI will send MSV
Nordica sea-, ice- and weather forecasts covering a large area between Bering Strait
and Nuuk. The forecast is issued by a meteorologist and a sea expert in duty three
times a week during the transit.

“This is
part of our Arctic service development. With climate change, safe and sustainable
operation will require up-to-date Arctic know-how“, says Head of
Group Antti Kangas from the Finnish Meteorological
Institute. Meteorological cooperation is one of the four priorities of Finland’s
Chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2017–2019.

Research
on both the Arctic and the Southern Ocean is essential for the study of climate
change and many other challenges facing the world today. Yet many nations and
institutes around the world with research interests in polar areas do not have the
logistical means to access these areas. Therefore, Arctia Ltd. offers its fleet and
expertise for the international research community.

Arctia
Ltd. continues dialogue with the world of research to solve the challenges of
combining lengthy funding and planning processes in academia with often fast
decision-making in the shipping industry. Facilitating knowledge and data exchange
between industry and academia is one of the five overarching themes of the Arctic
Economic Council (AEC) chaired by Arctia’s President and CEO Tero
Vauraste in 2017–2019.

More
information:

The Arctic 100 Expedition Blog
on Facebook: www.facebook.com/Arctic100Expedition

Arctia Ltd. on Twitter: @ArctiaLtd

Arctic Centre in Facebook: www.facebook.com/arcticcentre

Arctic Centre in Twitter: https://twitter.com/Arctic_Centre

Communications Manager Eero Hokkanen
Arctia Ltd.

mob. +358 46 876 7140

Science Communicator Ari
Laakso
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
+358 40 484
4293 (reachable on Monday, 3 July 2017)

LaY/AK/JW & Arctia/EH
Photo: Arctia