Real time reports on the state of the Arctic ice pack as it melts through the summer
The North Pole!
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At approximately 0030 UTC on July 24th we reached the North Pole. The ice here was shattered into Cake and Small pieces, occasionally Medium, with a very roughly 50/50 mixture of old and first year ice. Image below.
We spent a full day on 4 August at an ice station approximately 3 NM from the pole. We parked just three cables away but drifted south during the night.
We had the same mix of old and first year reported for the day before, but one very notable feature was a soft and creamy white substance that we were unable to identify scattered across the ice (pictured). Found both in ponds and on the ice surface, it occurred in clusters and had melted itself 10+cm downwards into the ice. It appeared biological in origin and had the texture of a cosmetic cream. It could sometimes contain small areas that were yellow/brown in colour.
We had a small team of citizen scientists active on the ice (pictured), collecting melt pond depth profiles for two different ice types -- the measurements will be published here in a few days.
After leaving the ice station we returned to the pole in order to circle it at a distance of 0.7NM, making a world circumnavigation in around 30-45 minutes. In this time ...
Travelling south through the pack we made excellent time, staying on our own lead from the way north almost the entire way. The most interesting observation today was the state of melt at 82N as we approached the pack edge north of Franz Josef Land. In addition to frozen ponds we encountered nilas ice which constituted as much as 1/10 out of 8-9/10 total coverage. Otherwise the pack this close to the edge was very heavily melted, with up to 4/10 melt on some floes, and rotten ice just 60-70cm thick. Is this the start of a period of freezing, or does this nils simply represent a significant layer of meltwater floating at the ocean's surface?
Although the Polar Collective team has completed its north pole
cruises for the 2019 season they are still active in the Arctic. Two
days ago on August 23rd a team member reported new ice forming at
position 80.45N 13.99E.
Vessel M/S Expedition operated by G Adventures was travelling along
the ice edge in 6/10 ice of indeterminate age. Floes were extensively
melted (see image) but all ponds had frozen over and frost flowers
were forming and many ponds had already become fully white.
Large areas of what appeared to be open water were actually covered by
grease and nilas (see image) which showed evidence of finger rafting.
Most interestingly, the vessel passed through a pan several miles
across which was approximately 10-15cm thick, extremely soft, and
appeared to be new grey ice (see two attached images).
For the Polar Collective team, this is an unusually early date to see
the pack edge freezing in the Svalbard region, let alone for the melt
to be far advanced en...
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