2 August North to 85

During 2 August we cruised as far north as 85N. During the early part of the day,as we approached 84N, we saw a lot of frozen pond tops, reflecting colder temperatures. We even saw some ponds that were frosting over (pictured). Ice thickness had increased to 80cm for first year ice and 100cm for older ice. While ponds were heavily linked there appeared to have been some draining and the concentration of melt was 2-3/10. Overall ice concentrations were relatively low compared with previous seasons and was just 8/10 overall, with 1/10 older ice.

Between 83.5 and 85N thickness increased to 100cm for first year and 200cm for old ice, and overall concentrations increased to 8-10/10. Ponds were heavily linked still (pictured) but the melt concentration had increased for most floes and fewer ponds were frozen. We noticed that on larger ponds only the rims were frozen, and only the very small ponds remained completely frozen.

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