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For earlier materials see Table of Contents

Watching the Arctic freeze-- minimum

Ice Free passage?

Looks like Asian route ‘better’ for shipping than Canadian see North Sea Route vs NW Passage


September 14th 2006 was ‘sea ice minimum’
ie day the melting ends

 

According to US  National Snow and Ice Data Center---

“If fairly cool and stormy conditions hadn’t appeared in August, slowing the rate of summer ice loss, I feel certain that 2006 would have surpassed last year’s record low for September sea ice.”

And

Ice extent from January through the middle of July 2006 was well below 2005 conditions, which, if it had continued, would have led to a new record low.

See their Figure

 Bering Straits Froze over between Dec 11 &14th see below

 

Maximum extent Arctic Sea Ice

‘March 2006 shows lowest Arctic winter sea ice extent since the beginning of the satellite record in 1979’ said NSIDC

Note: using Severnaya Zemlya Islands  (pink arrow) and Novaya Zemlya islands (yellow arrow) as markers in Kara Sea, gives reference point for above figures in what appears to be the most sensitive area to warming at present 

Wikipedia -- Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya (the last ‘discovered’ archipelago on earth

Freeze up in arctic

See figures right – most sensitive areas during
December were the Bering Straits
(white arrow) The Sakhalin Peninsula
(pink arrow) and Hudson Bay (red arrow)
Note the Kara Sea area almost unchanged
As Europe remains almost snow free

 

Current Conditions

Overview page of Cryosphere trends  Sea Ice Index Archives pages

Note what doesn’t Freeze

 Again the Kara Sea area (presumably fed by Norwegian Current) remains unfrozen

 

 

Latest Available see site

 

Note when ‘freeze over’ occurred depends on definition
especially how to treat the polyana (unfrozen waters surrounded with ice) in Chukchi Sea near Wrangell Island (famous for polar bear denning)

Bering Straits Freezes over

 

 

Created by LG on Dec17, 2006

Last updated on Sunday, December 17, 2006