The Melting Highway Project

With the mission of uncovering the impact of Arctic shipping and its pollutants on the Inuit communities living along the Northwest Passage, proprietary shipping data between 2013-2024 – including vessel characteristics, fuel type, fuel consumption, and the GPS signals sent by each vessel shipping through the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic – were analyzed using SQL, Python, and GIS software. The discovery through the data was supplemented by interviews with Arctic shipping and wildlife experts from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and Inuit communities living in the high Arctic town of Resolute Bay. The MELTING HIGHWAY PROJECT was supported and funded by Data-Driven Reporting Project, Northwestern University, and Google News Initiatives.