Climate change and sea ice: Shipping in Hudson Bay, Hudson Strait, and Foxe Basin (1980–2016)

Abstract

The seasonally ice-covered waters of Hudson Bay, James Bay, Foxe Basin, and Hudson Strait (“the study area”) are bordered by 39 communities with a total population of roughly 50,000 people, most of whom are Inuit or Cree. Sea ice is a cornerstone of the environment and culture of the study area but is also the main barrier to shipping traffic, which has been growing in the area. This paper presents a review of sea ice and shipping in the study area and an analysis of shipping accessibility as represented by the timing of breakup, freeze-up, and the open water season in its offshore and local waters. Offshore ice timing was analyzed using passive microwave-based data for 1980–2014; local ice timing near Rankin Inlet, Churchill, Kuujjuarapik/Whapmagoostui, and Salluit was examined using Canadian Ice Service ice charts for 1996–2016. Open water was defined using sea ice concentration thresholds of ≤15% (offshore) or <20% (local) in an attempt to represent accessible conditions for open water shipping vessels. The results for both offshore and local waters display considerable spatial variability. For offshore waters, breakup currently occurs between 17 May and 19 August and freeze-up occurs between 22 October and 30 December, with overall trends (1980–2014) of +0.58 days year–1 towards an earlier breakup, +0.47 days year–1 towards a later freeze-up, and +0.97 days year–1 towards a longer open water season. Also, significant relationships amongst breakup and freeze-up were observed. For local waters, the 1996–2016 average open water season at the four communities varied between 112.7 days (Churchill) and 154.7 days (Kuujjuarapik/Whapmagoostui). Ultimately, shipping accessibility to Rankin Inlet, Churchill, and Salluit appears to be limited by their local ice timing, while accessibility to Kuujjuarapik/Whapmagoostui appears to be limited by ice timing in northeastern Hudson Bay.

Re-assessing abundance of Southern Hudson Bay polar bears by aerial survey: effects of climate change at the southern edge of the range

“…Whether this represents an ongoing trend, or was the result of unusual conditions in spring and summer of 2015 is undetermined. However, breakup in eastern Hudson Bay was about two weeks later in 2015 than in 2010-2014 (Andrews et al 2018) suggesting that ice conditions should not have had a negative influence on cub survival in 2015. The proportion of yearlings in the 2016 SH survey was similar to that observed in the WH surveys of 2011 and 2016 (3%).…”

Climate control of sea-ice edge phytoplankton blooms in the Hudson Bay system

“…Impacts on the cryosphere dynamics have been observed: thinner sea-ice cover, early sea-ice retreat, late ice recover, and longer open water season (Hochheim and Barber, 2014;Kowal et al, 2017). These changes in the seaice dynamics may have driven significant changes in the marine ecosystems, with potential cascading impacts on all trophic levels in the HBS (Hoover et al, 2013;Keller et al, 2014;Andrews et al, 2017).…”

Atmospheric Forcing Drives the Winter Sea Ice Thickness Asymmetry of Hudson Bay

“…Previous studies have focused on sea ice concentration (SIC) and sea ice extent based on available data from airborne and satellite observations (Andrews et al, ; Cavalieri & Parkinson, ; Danielson, ; Gagnon & Gough, ; Galbraith & Larouche, ; Hochheim & Barber, ; Hochheim et al, ; Hochheim & Barber, ; Kowal et al, ; Ogi et al, ; Stroeve et al, ; Tivy et al, ), whereas less is known about SIT across HB due to limited observations over an extended timeframe. Observations of SIT have historically been limited to manual drill hole measurements made on the landfast ice near nine communities through a partnership between the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) and local communities who utilize the ice for travel (Gagnon & Gough, ; Gough et al, ; Markham, ).…”