Tag: sea ice

The Oasis Club reports that the ice condition in Bohai and Huanghai sea area has been developing quickly, given the low temperatures in Northern China that began in December 2020.

A study issued in the journal "Geophysical Research Letters" informs that what has been the oldest and thickest Arctic sea ice has begun disappearing, twice as fast in the rest of the Arctic Ocean, because atmospheric winds in north of Greenland transfer sea ice to other parts of the Arctic. 

One of the Finnish priorities that Ambassador Aleksi Härkönen, Chair of the Senior Arctic Officials, emphasizes as a success, is meteorological cooperation. Mr. Härkönen said that they have already achieved a breakthrough when the WMO and national meteorological institutes decided to actively contribute to meteorological cooperation in the Arctic.

When sailing in the Gulf of Bothnia, which is full of ice, many additional concerns compared to sailing in a plain liquid sea will occur. The thickness of the ice affects the speed and the fuel consumption of the vessel, while there is always the risk of getting stuck. Sea Traffic Management, through the Winter Navigation Service, aims to give a solution to this problems and help ships navigate safely.

The US Coast Guard and local agencies rescued 46 ice fishermen from an ice floe that broke free near Catawba Island, in western Lake Erie, Saturday. An additional estimated 100 people were able to self-rescue themselves from the ice floe either by swimming or walking on ice-bridges.

US Coast Guard Sector Sault Sainte Marie begun Operation Taconite, on January 7. This USCG's largest domestic icebreaking operation in response to expanded ice growth in the commercial ports of Western Lake Superior and the St. Marys River. Operation Taconite includes Lake Superior, St. Marys River, Straits of Mackinac, Georgian Bay, Green Bay, northern Lake Huron, and Lake Michigan.

The Finnish Transport Agency published instructions for winter navigation in collaboration with the industry, shipping companies, charterers, vessels, icebreakers, pilots and vessel traffic services. During winter navigation ships are facing more risks than when sailing in ice-free waters.

According to a recent research by NASA scientist Ron Kwok of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, published in Environmental Research Letters, Arctic's sea ice has changed since 1958 from once older, thicker ice to mostly younger, thinner ice. In addition, from 1999 to 2017 the Arctic has recorded a decrease of more than 50% multiyear sea ice.

The sea off the north coast of Greenland is usually so frozen that is is considered as the 'last ice area'. An area that would not be affected by global warming. However, this ice has started to break up; this happened twice this year, while it has never happened before.

After declining fast through July, sea ice extent decline slowed during the first two weeks of August, with a new record September minimum being highly unlikely, the National Snow & Ice Data Center informed. It also informed that the sea ice extent for 2018 falls between the fourth and ninth lowest in the 40-year satellite record.