AMSR-E Arctic Sea Ice Survey - Beaufort/Chukchi Thinning Pronounced - Svalbard Clear - Bremen Uni

[hatrack]

False Color Map:

http://iup.physik.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/arctic_AMSRE_nic_small.jpg

ARTIST sea ice algorhythm:

http://iup.physik.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/arctic_AMSRE_visual_small.jpg

Baffin Bay/Kane Basin/Kennedy Channel also largely clear:

http://iup.physik.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/SmithSound_visual.png

[IndyOp]

1. A bit of verbal explanation/interpretation with your pics would help. (n/t)

:hi:

[Systematic Chaos]

2. The maps are showing just how little ice there is right now.

They're color coded to show the percentage of ice cover in any given location from 0% to 100%. The places mentioned in the OP are pretty much the northernmost land masses near the Arctic Circle.

Basically, there's almost no area in the entire Arctic Ocean now that's 100% ice-covered, and much of it has little to no ice at all. This is how someone was able to dive in and swim to the North Pole recently.

Lastly, it's important to note that the maximum thaw up there is still a few weeks away.

[hatrack]

4. Top two maps - the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea are N. of Alaska & the Bering Strait, respectively

So, in the western Arctic, you've got a substantial amount of thinning (as in 40 - 60% coverage) over an area of thousands of square miles well to the north of Barrow and the Diomede Islands - which, by historic averages, isn't very much for this time of year.

The big map is the area between northern Greenland (on the right side) and Ellesmere Island (upper left side). The really big body of water between them is Baffin Bay, pretty much swept clean, the largish area pointing to the 2 o'clock position between 80 and 82 North is Kane Basin, and the long narrow channel leading to the Arctic Ocean is Kennedy Channel - some ice there, but not very much, considering that we've still got about seven weeks to go before hitting seasonal low.

Oh, and don't forget that last September an area larger than Great Britain between Greenland and Svalbard, around 80 North, simply distintegrated, leaving a vast area of open water and occasional floes, in the space of less than a week.

Can't wait to see what this year will bring.

[KingofNewOrleans]

5. Actually two different events

The large polynya opened up North of Alaska, while North of Svalbard a major storm did considerable disruption (almost looks like the ice sheet was was scattered with buckshot) to the ice sheet at 85N.

http://iup.physik.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsredata/asi_daygrid_swath/l1a/n6250/2006/aug/asi180-n6250-20060828_visual.png


The melt season ended slightly earlier than usual on the European side (end of August) so there was no further melt in the High Arctic following the storm.
The melt season and polynya on the Alaskan side persisted well into September.


The bottom line is that since the Arctic is now in it's seventh straight year of below average to record low ice melts in the summer, there much less multiyear ice and even the multiyear ice is thinner than in the past. It makes the ecosystem much more susceptible to "anomolies" or new melting patterns. So, yes there may be an opportunity to see something never seen before in the melt pattern (the main channel of the Northwest Passage may open up for example).

As for this year, the melt pattern has been very similar to 2005 (which is the current record low year) except this year the melt has been even faster/more advanced along the entire Siberian Coast all the way over to the Beaufort. I'd guess that there's about an 80-90% chance that a new record low will be set this year

[KingofNewOrleans]

6. A couple of good sites for background info

This site can tell you just about everything you wanted to know (or didn't want to know) about sea ice.

http://www-nsidc.colorado.edu/seaice/intro.html

Of particular interest is the map showing the basic circulation of currents and sea ice in the Arctic




It demonstrates why the melt is more rapid along the Transpolar side of the Arctic vs the Beaufort Sea side.


The best site for current sea ice graphics is the site hatrack used

http://iup.physik.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/amsre.html

It does have a link at the bottom of the page for an archive that goes back to 2003, not that far, really, but since they are all low ice years they do provide interesting comparison and contrasts of ice melt patterns.

Lastly, the NSIDC has the Sea Ice Index which lets you look at snapshots of Sea Ice going back to 1979.

http://www-nsidc.colorado.edu/data/seaice_index/

Just click on the "compare, animate, or download" link.

[Dead_Parrot]

3. shit, is that all?

oh well, there goes the albedo. :(