Published on 03/04/2023 20:56
Video length: 5 mins
Article written by
C Guttin, T Donzel, A Sangouard, K Sullivan Den Bergh – France 2
France TV
Each winter, ice roads allow truckers to service northern Canada. However, these icy highways are threatened by global warming. Reporting.
In northern Canada, polar winters freeze lakes and rivers, creating ice roads. Such huge highways are used by hundreds of trucks for a few weeks. Open only two to three months a year, they are the only way for mines to have their gear delivered. Lately they have melted down and are opening later and later, in February of this year.
A “less homogeneous” layer
“I noticed that the layer was less homogeneous than before,” emphasizes Alex Packmann, who is responsible for maintaining the roads. Northern Canada is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. According to experts, he is at the forefront of the climate crisis. “In the 200s we had 70 to 80 opening days on this route. Looking to 2020 we’ve dropped to 60, 65 open days. […] I think that by the end of the century there will be no more ice roads,” analyzes climate researcher Fritz Griffith.
No more icy roads would also doom dozens of villages near the Arctic Circle. Most are only connected to the rest of the world during those few winter months.
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