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This is not the sea north of Alaska, but we imagine it is what it will look like in five to ten years time. Photo: Christian McLeod

This is not the sea north of Alaska, but we imagine it is what it will look like in five to ten years time. Photo: Christian McLeod


The Inertia

It’s pumping, that’s for sure. But that’s not necessarily a good thing in this far corner of the world. In fact, it’s much more a bad thing. According to a report by Jim Thomson of the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington, and Erick Rogers with the Naval Research Laboratory in Mississippi, sixteen-foot waves are slamming regions of the Arctic Ocean, regions previously covered in ice — permanently, until now that is — lending a huge hand in the Arctic system’s trend towards an ice-free summer. The report was presented in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. Whatever reasons you believe as the cause, human or natural, it is more and more difficult to argue against global warming.

Ice cover previously tempered the waves in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska. But now the area is ice-free by September, and with winds blowing for longer distances over the open ocean, you’re getting massive sets. What is the problem with this? Consider the domino effect outline in an article by National Geographic: waves break up the ice, and the constantly moving water allows sunlight to have a greater effect on the ocean; this increased heat continues to break the ice, which allows for more wind and higher waves.

What does this mean? On the positive side, the Arctic Surfers are going to be getting a lot more business and we’ll have opportunities to add even more breaks to our bucket lists. But the bad far outweighs the good: the waves are going to speed up erosion, and increased carbon dioxide exchange will lend to more greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.

Even those who live and breathe and freeze their f*cking balls off to pull on 5 millimeter suits in three feet of snow wouldn’t trade the health of our planet for a few sets of the gnarliest waves on Earth. That being said, it’s already happening, so it wouldn’t completely surprise us if Garrett McNamara and Keali’i Mamala were already scouting for a trip.

Check out the blog Arctic Surf for more information on this (really, really) cold water surfing.

 
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