Tag: sea ice

 According to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), the Arctic sea ice extent is now tracking below 2010, 2013, and 2014. Openings in the ice cover have continued to expand within the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. While the Northern Sea Route has opened, the Northwest Passage remains clogged with considerable ice in the channels of the Canadian Archipelago. However, some data sources indicate narrow openings in the ice where navigation may be possible.On August 16, 2015 sea ice extent stood at 5.79 million square kilometers (2.24 million square miles). This is 1.35 million square kilometers (521,200 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average, and 1.17 million square kilometers (451,700 square miles) above the level for the same date in 2012, the year of the record low extent.The rate of ice retreat slowed compared to July, but remained faster than is typical for the month through the first half of August. Most of the ice in Baffin and Hudson bays has finally melted out. Large areas of open water and low concentration ice within the Beaufort and Chukchi seas continued to expand. Some of the low concentration ice depicted in the passive microwave data could be due to the presence of melt ponds ...

  According to National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) Arctic sea ice extent is well below average for this time of year, although ice has persisted in Baffin Bay and Hudson Bay. The Northern Sea Route appears to be mostly open, except for a narrow section along the Taymyr Peninsula. The Northwest Passage is still clogged with ice. Antarctic sea ice extent remains high, but the growth rate has slowed and extent is now closer to its long-term average for this time of year. July 2015 average ice extent was 8.77 million square kilometers (3.38 million square miles), the 8th lowest July extent in the satellite record. This is 920,000 square kilometers (355,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 average for the month. While Arctic sea ice retreated at near average rates during the month of June, the pace of ice loss quickened in July such that the extent at the end of the month was within 550,000 square kilometers (212,000 square miles) of the extent recorded on the same date in 2012, and is now tracking below 2013 and 2014. Ice extent was at below average levels within the Kara, Barents, Chukchi, East Siberian, and Laptev seas, ...

  The volume of Arctic sea ice increased by a third after the summer of 2013 as the unusually cool air temperatures prevented the ice from melting, according to UCL and University of Leeds scientists. This suggests that the ice pack in the Northern hemisphere is more sensitive to changes in summer melting than it is to winter cooling, a finding which will help researchers to predict future changes in its volume. The study, published in Nature Geoscience and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), used 88 million measurements of sea ice thickness recorded by the European Space Agency's CryoSat-2 mission between 2010 and 2014. It showed that there was a 14% reduction in the volume of summertime Arctic sea ice between 2010 and 2012, but the volume of ice jumped by 41% in 2013 (relative to the previous year), when the summer was 5% cooler than the previous year. Lead author and PhD student, Rachel Tilling from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), UCL Earth & Planetary Sciences, said: "The summer of 2013 was much cooler than recent years with temperatures typical of those seen in the late 1990s. This allowed thick sea ice to persist ...

  A new review analyzing three decades of research on the historic effects of melting polar ice sheets found that global sea levels have risen at least six meters, or about 20 feet, above present levels on multiple occasions over the past three million years. What is most concerning, scientists say, is that amount of melting was caused by an increase of only 1-2 degrees (Celsius) in global mean temperatures. Results of the study are being published this week in the journal Science. "Studies have shown that both the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets contributed significantly to this sea level rise above modern levels," said Anders Carlson, an Oregon State University glacial geologist and paleoclimatologist, and co-author on the study. "Modern atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are today equivalent to those about three million years ago, when sea level was at least six meters higher because the ice sheets were greatly reduced. "It takes time for the warming to whittle down the ice sheets," added Carlson, who is in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, "but it doesn't take forever. There is evidence that we are likely seeing that transformation begin to take place now." Co-author Peter Clark, an ...

  According to National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic sea ice extent for June 2015 was the third lowest in the satellite record. June snow cover for the Northern Hemisphere was the second lowest on record.  In contrast, Antarctic sea ice extent remained higher than average. The pace of sea ice loss was near average for the month of June, but persistently warm conditions and increased melting late in the month may have set the stage for rapid ice loss in the coming weeks.  Arctic sea ice extent for June 2015 averaged 11.0 million square kilometers (4.24 million square miles), the third lowest June extent in the satellite record. This is 920,000 square kilometers (355,200 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 11.89 million square kilometers (4.59 million square miles) and 150,000 square kilometers (58,000 square miles) above the record low for the month observed in 2010. Ice extent remains below average in the Barents Sea as well as in the Chukchi Sea, continuing the pattern seen in May. While extent is below average in western Hudson Bay, it is above average in the eastern part of the bay and near average east of Greenland. Ice ...

  According to the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), melt season is underway, and sea ice in the Arctic is retreating rapidly. At the end of May, ice extent was at daily record low levels. By sharp contrast, sea ice extent in the Southern Hemisphere continues to track at daily record high levels. Arctic sea ice extent for May 2015 averaged 12.65 million square kilometers (4.88 million square miles), the third lowest May ice extent in the satellite record. This is 730,000 square kilometers (282,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 13.38 million square kilometers (5.17 million square miles) and 70,000 square kilometers (27,000 square miles) above the record low for the month, observed in 2004. The below average extent for this month is partly a result of early melt out of ice in the Bering Sea and the persistence of below-average ice conditions in the Barents Sea. Early breakup of sea ice in the Bering Sea also occurred last spring. Elsewhere, ice is tracking at near-average levels. By the end of May, several openings had appeared in the ice pack, most notably in the southern Beaufort Sea near Banks Island, off the coast ...

  On Tuesday, 19 May 2015 the research icebreaker Polarstern will leave its home port in Bremerhaven, setting a course for the Arctic. Led by Dr Ilka Peeken from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) a team of 53 researchers from 11 countries will investigate the effects of climate change in the Arctic, from the surface ice floes down to the seafloor. RV Polarstern will enter the sea-ice zone north of Spitsbergen. Covering two shallow regions on their way to deeper waters, the scientists on board will focus on the processes at work in the ice-covered central Arctic Ocean. Their findings will then be used to supplement the research efforts of late-summer expeditions from the past several years. The researchers will for the first time employ several instruments that constantly measure the seawater’s temperature, salinity, gas composition and algae content. “We want to determine which animals and plants in the Artic Ocean are active during the early summer. This is especially exciting this year, since it marks the first time in the past 30 years that the sea ice has begun melting so early,” explains AWI biologist Ilka Peeken. Over the past few years, the ...

  According to National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), as winter turns to spring, the seasonal decline in Arctic sea ice kicks into gear. April was marked by rapid ice loss at the beginning and end of the month. Air temperatures were higher than average over much of the Arctic Ocean. In the Antarctic, sea ice extent was the highest seen in April in the satellite record. This month NSIDC introduces data sets and online tools from new sensors that—combined with older sources—provide a more complete picture of ice thickness changes across the Arctic. Overview of conditions Arctic sea ice extent for April 2015 averaged 14.0 million square kilometers (5.4 million square miles), the second lowest April ice extent in the satellite record. It is 810,000 square kilometers (313,000 square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 long-term average of 15.0 million square kilometers (6.0 million square miles) and 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) above the previous record low for the month observed in 2007. The graph above shows Arctic sea ice extent as of May 5, 2015, along with daily ice extent data for four previous years. 2015 is shown in blue, 2014 in green, 2013 in orange, 2012 in brown, and 2011 in ...

  International Arctic Research Center researcher Robert Rember recently returned from a 23-day cruise on the research vessel Sikuliaq.  The cruise included a group of scientists who were tasked with assessing the capabilities of the R/V Sikuliaq for future scientific research, specifically working in the sea ice environment. The Sikuliaq, “young sea ice” in Inupiaq, is an 80m (261ft) oceanographic research vessel. Though not an icebreaker, Sikuliaq is considered an ice-capable vessel in the US academic research fleet. With its hardened hull, it can move through sea ice as thick as 0.8m (32in). This allows scientists to access icy areas in the Polar Regions during fall and spring seasons that other existing vessels generally avoid. Experienced in research expeditions such as the Bering Sea Ecosystem Study and the Nansen and Amundsen Basins Observational System research cruises, Rember worked with the captain and crew to help them to understand what scientists would need on a scientific expedition and to establish protocols and guidelines regarding how to safely deploy scientists to work on the ice. The crew training with respect to science needs included how to best position the ship for an ice station, how to secure an area for research, how ...