North West Passage via Nunavut

AIRVŪZ STAFF NOTE : AirVuz contributor jkoczur1985 earned a Drone Video of the Week Finalist spot for this excellent drone video of ships plying the Northwest Passage in Canada's far northern Nunavut territory. The melting of Arctic ice due to global warming has resulted in the opening of navigable sea passages between the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean via the Arctic Ocean, greatly reducing potential shipping times and distances via new routes connecting the western and eastern hemispheres. Most of these routes pass through the vast Nunavut territory.

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The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada.

For centuries, European explorers, beginning with Christopher Columbus in 1492, sought a navigable passage as a possible trade route to Asia, but were blocked by North, Central, and South America; by ice, or by rough waters (e.g. Tierra del Fuego). An ice-bound northern route was discovered in 1850 by the Irish explorer Robert McClure, whose expedition completed the passage by hauling sledges. Scotsman John Rae explored a more southerly area in 1854 through which Norwegian Roald Amundsen made the first complete passage entirely by ship in 1903–1906.