First, it was the ski resorts that were unable to operate due to the climate crisis. Now, the world’s largest outdoor ice rink is facing the possibility of a completely closed season due to a lack of ice.
Confirmed by Guinness as the largest naturally frozen ice rink in the world, the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, Canada, receives more than one million visitors a year.
The approximately 8km Skateway is actually part of the Rideau Canal, a 200km UNESCO World Heritage Site that connects Ottawa to Lake Ontario and the St. Louis River. Lawrence.
The Skateway is the part of the canal that runs through downtown Ottawa from downtown to Dow’s Lake.
Every year, usually from the beginning of January to the beginning of March, about a million people flock to the place to skate, shuffle or walk along it, or stroll along the paths that accompany it.
In January, CNN Travel named Ottawa one of its 23 places to go in 2023 thanks to Skateway.
Its opening dates, however, are always dependent on the weather.
The Skateway is open to the public when the ice is at least 1 foot thick.
That kind of thickness needs 10 to 14 days of “consecutive cold weather,” according to the National Capital Commission (NCC), which manages the site.
For this task, “cold” is defined as -10°C to -20°C. The pros prepare for the start of the skating season by flooding the (already deep) ice to thicken it even further.
But this year there isn’t enough ice to create the skate park.
Ottawa is experiencing one of the warmest winters ever, as temperatures in the usually very cold capital have remained mild.
As climate change accelerates, winters are getting warmer around the world. The past eight years have been the warmest on record on Earth.
“Persistent above normal seasonal temperatures and current ice conditions prevent us from opening the Rideau Canal Skateway this week,” an NCC spokesperson told CNN by email.
“We remain hopeful that we can welcome skaters to Skateway this year. We will reassess conditions at the weekend.”
On February 3, the NCC issued a safety alert, telling the public that the ice was “dangerously thin” with water up to 4.2 meters deep below it.
“The presence of work crews in the channels in the next few days should not be interpreted as a sign that the ice surface is stable,” he declared.
“The team is made up of professionals who know how to manage the risks associated with their work.”
Once the Skateway is ready, green flags appear to signal that it is safe. And once opened, every night (weather permitting) the surface is swept and the ice is flooded again to smooth out the cracks. About 22,000 skaters hit the ice every day.
NCC is already working to keep the Skateway in service despite the climate crisis.
In 2022, it partnered with Carleton University to address the impacts of climate change on site.
A four-year project will see the first two years spent collecting data and then modeling to predict future ice behavior.
Finally, academics will suggest solutions for adapting the Skateway.
Source: CNN Brasil
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