The North Pole Reporter

The Sea Ice Research Team has performed three successful seasons collecting sea ice and atmospheric data on multiple transects of the arctic pack between the North Pole and the edge. In 2018, as well as classifying ice types and identifying a transition from 100% First Year ice to greater than 50% Multi Year at around 86N, an interesting ‘flicker’ in the progress of melting was observed. For a short period in late July the pack ceased melting and the winter freeze began; melt ponds froze over and were covered in frost, and leads began refreezing with a thickening ski of nilas forming. In early August this flicker of freeze ended and the pack returned to state of rapid melting, with expanding and deepening ponds and increasing amounts of rotten ice observed towards the pack edge. In summer 2019 this reporter will update in close to real time for all those researchers interested in the state of the summer melt. If you are interested in the data being collected some of it can be foun