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Andreas T

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1650 on: May 31, 2017, 08:20:01 PM »
I haven't seen comparable figures for ground level that would account for angle of incidence, atmospheric thickness, etc.

not significant effects.  Clouds, yes, angle and thickness, not much.  Incident received radiation at the pole is significantly more on June 21 than at the equator.
because this keeps coming up, I started a thread a while back https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,749.msg105484.html#msg105484
My reading of the available data (the CERES figures are probably more rigorously worked out than I could do) is that at groundlevel at the northpole as it is (i.e. under an atmosphere with clouds ) incoming solar radiation is less than most of the equatorial regions (apart from where there are lots of clouds at this time of the year). That Greenland's inland, where the high altitude (and predominant high pressure?) means clearer skies, has higher insolation than both equator and pole shows it is an atmosphere thing.

PS of course this shows monthly averages so on 21 of June (if weather suits) the situation could well be different

FishOutofWater

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1651 on: May 31, 2017, 08:50:25 PM »
One of the more likely places soot from northern Alberta could go is Greenland. Not good.

Cook

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1652 on: May 31, 2017, 09:32:46 PM »
Looks like the crack has almost made it across the whole of the north of Greenland... the odds on it reaching the Atlantic side in the next day or two must be short!

Looks like it is there:


From 31 May

bbr2314

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1653 on: May 31, 2017, 09:39:07 PM »
IMO it seems like the Atlantic sector ice is going to face a rapid collapse over the coming 2-3 weeks -- the next week alone should see major losses in Kara, Barentz, and the Greenland Sea, with large areas of each falling victim to both bottom-melt and wind-driven ice loss. The following week or two should kill most of what remains. Seems like the date of the impending cliff is moving closer and closer given these developments.

PS: this is fantasy-range GFS, but this is the first run of the model where such extreme temp anomalies are appearing in the peripheral seas. I would think that this indicates that the areas of largest anomalies are anticipated to soon be completely or almost entirely ice-free... so while the forecast date is far away and the forecast itself is likely off substantially, this would seem to indicate that we will imminently be dealing with open water across large sections of the Arctic where it has never appeared this early before.


Lord M Vader

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1654 on: May 31, 2017, 09:56:07 PM »
DMI graph shows a strong spike in the daily mean temps at +80N to a normal level.

Thomas Barlow

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1655 on: May 31, 2017, 10:46:34 PM »
Looks like the crack has almost made it across the whole of the north of Greenland... the odds on it reaching the Atlantic side in the next day or two must be short!
Looks like it is there:
From 31 May

I combined 2 days from early June 2016, and erased clouds where possible, to reveal a bit more of what the ice looked like in that area last year in one image (in early June).
Compare it to today.
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 05:02:46 AM by Thomas Barlow »

JayW

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1656 on: May 31, 2017, 10:53:21 PM »
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf.  Lots of interesting motion that doesn't look wind driven (much of which is, however).  Breaking up further as well.


Imagery courtesy of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

http://feeder.gina.alaska.edu/npp-gina-alaska-truecolor-images?search%5Bfeeds%5D%5B5%5D=1&search%5Bsensors%5D%5B3%5D=1
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Tigertown

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1657 on: June 01, 2017, 12:32:00 AM »
Quote
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf.

The air is above freezing there today. The water has been above zero oC for a couple days now. The wind and small waves are a contributor.
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JayW

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1658 on: June 01, 2017, 12:47:48 AM »
Whole month of May, Pacific side, in about 5 seconds.

imagery courtesy of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks

http://feeder.gina.alaska.edu/npp-gina-alaska-truecolor-images?search%5Bfeeds%5D%5B5%5D=1&search%5Bsensors%5D%5B3%5D=1
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gregcharles

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1659 on: June 01, 2017, 01:04:01 AM »
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf. 

Very nice animation! I'm trying to get an idea of the scale by matching it up with a map. I can't figure out exactly where it is in Amundsen Gulf. Is it near Investigator Island?

Reggie

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1660 on: June 01, 2017, 02:06:10 AM »
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf. 

Very nice animation! I'm trying to get an idea of the scale by matching it up with a map. I can't figure out exactly where it is in Amundsen Gulf. Is it near Investigator Island?


I hope this screenshot from Worldview will help.
The image is the same area as in the animation, rotated 90 degrees, zoomed out and labelled.


magnamentis

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1661 on: June 01, 2017, 02:18:39 AM »
Bright colors everywhere. I believe the opening of the CAA is only a couple weeks out now.


it's an ice-balloon LOL, we all know what happens at the end with overblown balloons, you and i saw it coming sind january and i'm totally convinced the p-word will apply even more than last year.

Killian

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1662 on: June 01, 2017, 02:34:47 AM »
Anyone else thinking:

Nares is to ASI as Thwaites is to WAIS?

Watching ice drain down through the Strait 1.5 to 2 months earlier than ever before, draining the bottom of the ASI like someone pulled the plug in a bathtub, as it were, is the most disconcerting thing I've seen since 2012.

I believe this is ripping the "backbone" out of the ASI pack, reducing the integrity of the whole thing. Lordy... if the transport via both Nares and Fram continue through the summer, God help us. Of course, the summers have tended to turn cool and transport to slow, especially in August, so no bets on the table just yet, but this is an entirely new phenomenon WRT to Nares opening so early and anything might happen.

With bated breath...

JayW

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1663 on: June 01, 2017, 02:42:34 AM »
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf. 

Very nice animation! I'm trying to get an idea of the scale by matching it up with a map. I can't figure out exactly where it is in Amundsen Gulf. Is it near Investigator Island?

I believe that scene is somewhere between 4-500km wide.  Banks island is at the top center.  And you can see the area in the far right in the animation I posted in #1658
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Tigertown

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1664 on: June 01, 2017, 02:53:40 AM »
@killian
I think Nares' export is one of the most important things happening this year and bears watching. I fear the CAA will add to the export soon along with the Fram. When ice is exported out of the Arctic, it is the same as being obliterated, no matter how thick it is. If there is any MYI left after this year it will be very little, hardly enough to serve as climate ballast.
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oren

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1665 on: June 01, 2017, 06:15:23 AM »
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf. 

Very nice animation! I'm trying to get an idea of the scale by matching it up with a map. I can't figure out exactly where it is in Amundsen Gulf. Is it near Investigator Island?
You are mostly looking at the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, with Alaska at the middle bottom. Here is a map I googled. The Amundsen Gulf is at the extreme right and extends out of this map.

Lord M Vader

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1666 on: June 01, 2017, 06:52:16 AM »
The last two days of Mays were very warm at Svalbard and hence, the average temperature ended +0,2oC warmer. The string of 78 months warmer than average continues, but it was very close that it had ended....

kiwichick16

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1667 on: June 01, 2017, 07:20:09 AM »
@  Oren......thanks for that map.......are the Chukchi and East Siberian seas really that shallow?

S.Pansa

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1668 on: June 01, 2017, 07:26:17 AM »
DMI predicts widespread melting for the coming days, sometimes a few hours per day. That's at least how I read the ice temps in the first  two pics below. My two cherry picks of choice: The first for 3rd June at 02 GMT, the second for the 5th at 00 GMT.

The forecast is based on the DMI HYCOM CICE model, so the weather data should come from ECMWF and not GFS, if I am not mistaken.
But it might also contain some input from their own HIRLAM model (surface winds).

Unfortunately I could not find an archive to compare these temps to past years. Alternatively a look at the possible short term effects through the crystal ball of the NAVY HYCOM model. It predicts some significant thinning, especially for the Chukchi & ESS.
Will be interesting to see how this pans out.

oren

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1669 on: June 01, 2017, 07:37:09 AM »
@  Oren......thanks for that map.......are the Chukchi and East Siberian seas really that shallow?
Yes. Ess even shallower than Chukchi. Here's a general arctic bathymetry map, with reversed orientation.

Lord M Vader

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1670 on: June 01, 2017, 07:49:49 AM »
Kiwichick16: here you can see the bathymetry map of the Arctic basin! :)

https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/bathymetry/arctic/maps/version3_0/Ver3_Map_LetterSize_round.pdf

And yes, ESS together with Laptev is really shallow. Chukchi is also shallow but not as shallow as Laptev and ESS as you can clearly can see on the map.

Lord M Vader

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1671 on: June 01, 2017, 07:50:54 AM »
Oren: you were just a little faster than me :)

Oh dear, oh dear, just discovered that I have passed 1000 posts after about 4 years at this forum :) With that speed it will take me another 36 years to make 10.000 posts....

Andreas T

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1672 on: June 01, 2017, 08:57:51 AM »
@  Oren......thanks for that map.......are the Chukchi and East Siberian seas really that shallow?

There is a more recent report by the same people which uses improved data it seems, but yes, the result is pretty much the same.
http://s3.nprb.org/projects/40093f37-6464-439e-a836-c84a2998ecec/FinalReport1225.pdf
One indication from another point of view is the presence of walrus far from the coast in the Chukchi. Walrus feed on the sea floor which would be out of reach in the Beaufort.

Yuha

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1673 on: June 01, 2017, 10:38:50 AM »
Below is an animation of the arctic basin during the first half of June 2012 (Worldview, even days only). Watch the melt ponds spread, covering more than half of the basin by mid June. That much darkened ice well before peak insolation was pivotal to the 2012 record melt. What will happen this year?

F.Tnioli

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1674 on: June 01, 2017, 12:25:58 PM »
@  Oren......thanks for that map.......are the Chukchi and East Siberian seas really that shallow?
ESAS is the largest continental shelf in the world, i heard. Huge area of shallow waters indeed, in any case.

I've just been thinking what would be the effects if even more of ESAS will lose ice cover any time soon, and so far i can see only one significant negative feedback: expect increased cloud cover in Arctic if ESAS gets burned early in the season, i think. Shallow waters warm up real quick in compare to deep ocean areas, and warmer water produces correspondedly more evaporation, much of which will end up forming up clouds in Arctic itself, right?

I think about it in conjunction to known positive feedbacks of early-open ESAS (whole or any significant part of) during a melting season, such as tremendous positive feedback long-term (CH4 emissions), which is significant positive feedback short-term, also. Any extra CH4 has biggest GHG effect exactly where and when it entered the athmosphere, of course, and obviously extra-warm water from ESAS will contribute to warm ocean currents during the season, as well. More moisture and more energy in the athmosphere should also increase probability of late-season GAC(s) to happen over the Arctic (and we know how destructive to ASI those can be). Obviously grim consequences for the following melt seasons also apply. So, open ESAS is not "good" for the ice overall (who'd doubt). But at least that negative feedback about more clouds compensates a bit, "for now".

Any big silly errors in my mumbling here?
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 12:32:23 PM by F.Tnioli »
To everyone: before posting in a melting season topic, please be sure to know contents of this moderator's post: https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,3017.msg261893.html#msg261893 . Thanks!

magnamentis

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1675 on: June 01, 2017, 02:13:15 PM »
@  Oren......thanks for that map.......are the Chukchi and East Siberian seas really that shallow?

google earth will show you the depth for every given spot, just zoom in and use the appropriate tool to track elevation which will show you below zero elevation as well. like this you'll have one of the best publicly available dataset as to ocean depth, of course you can google marine maps from that region and download them to learn about the shallowness in than or any other region which is available.

Jim Pettit

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1676 on: June 01, 2017, 02:49:07 PM »
May's bizarrely low rate of extent decrease is shown very well in this NSIDC monthly average SIE graph:



Amazing, really, to see such a wild upward swing after many months of flat to falling averages. In fact, it appears to be the largest year-to-year same-month spike in nearly four years.

However, given the condition of the ice--especially the record low volume numbers--I would definitely not get my hopes high at the moment...

sondreb

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1677 on: June 01, 2017, 04:38:38 PM »
Perfect weather conditions with little clouds on the imagery coming in for today, it is not complete yet, but what is available I have attached. Have to look at all the way forward to June 19th 2016, for a similar situation.

(Edit: Changed image type from PNG to JPG to reduce size, little effects on quality)
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 04:43:47 PM by sondreb »

dnem

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1678 on: June 01, 2017, 04:46:03 PM »
May's bizarrely low rate of extent decrease is shown very well in this NSIDC monthly average SIE graph:

Amazing, really, to see such a wild upward swing after many months of flat to falling averages. In fact, it appears to be the largest year-to-year same-month spike in nearly four years.

However, given the condition of the ice--especially the record low volume numbers--I would definitely not get my hopes high at the moment...

I often hear statements to the effect of "The behavior of complex systems becomes more erratic and highly variable prior to a state change." The erratic wobbles of a spinning top prior to its toppling over, for example.  The current behavior of SIE extent could certainly be interpreted in this context.

rboyd

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1679 on: June 01, 2017, 05:12:59 PM »
Let's remember that SIE and SIA are two-dimensional views, which are open to short term fluctuations due to a thinner, more mobile ice pack that can be easily dispersed. Waiting for PIOMAS before I make any judgement.

Hefaistos

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1680 on: June 01, 2017, 05:29:12 PM »
... Huge area of shallow waters indeed, in any case.
... Shallow waters warm up real quick in compare to deep ocean areas, and warmer water produces correspondedly more evaporation, much of which will end up forming up clouds in Arctic itself, right?
...extra-warm water from ESAS will contribute to warm ocean currents during the season, as well...

I think these are very important points, as we will see probable temperature differentials between the shelfs of AO and the deeper ocean.
Some Swedish researchers have studied the physiography, hypsometry, and volume of the Arctic Ocean and its constituent seas, which adds important detail to the mere classification of contintal shelf vs. deep water ocean.
As you mention, warm ocean currents might extend further into Kara and Laptev, and possibly even to ESS. In any case, the Atlantic halocline in the AO will be influenced by warming shelf waters, which will influence the Arctic Ocean Boundary Current.

http://www.geo.su.se/index.php/sv/projekt-arkiv/344-physiography-hypsometry-and-volume-of-the-arctic-ocean
« Last Edit: June 01, 2017, 07:39:14 PM by Hefaistos »

jai mitchell

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1681 on: June 01, 2017, 06:32:10 PM »
May's bizarrely low rate of extent decrease is shown very well in this NSIDC monthly average SIE graph:

echoes of the 2012 season, may also increased that year.
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Lord M Vader

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1682 on: June 01, 2017, 07:27:04 PM »
12z GFS op run is highly interesting. On one hand it would be interesting to see the forecast from +240h and beyond to verify. OTOH it would be a disaster to the Arctic with a severe dipole setup.

VeliAlbertKallio

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1683 on: June 01, 2017, 07:42:09 PM »
I find a tiny amount of encouragement  :-\ (and comfort against the very hard climate change denialist-inaction populism  :o of President Donald Trump) that people are - at least - interested in reading about melting Arctic and its blowing Arctic balloons... https://www.academia.edu/33000316/MPs_to_review_UKs_role_in_Arctic_sustainability_-_24th_April_2017.docx

Bright colors everywhere. I believe the opening of the CAA is only a couple weeks out now.


it's an ice-balloon LOL, we all know what happens at the end with overblown balloons, you and i saw it coming sind january and i'm totally convinced the p-word will apply even more than last year.
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gregcharles

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1684 on: June 01, 2017, 07:52:47 PM »
Thanks to Reggie, JayW, and Oren for orienting me on that animation. I've got it now. The scale is much bigger than I had guessed. That's a serious chunk of ice being flushed out!

romett1

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1685 on: June 01, 2017, 08:17:33 PM »
12z GFS op run is highly interesting. On one hand it would be interesting to see the forecast from +240h and beyond to verify. OTOH it would be a disaster to the Arctic with a severe dipole setup.

Yes, this hour 228 is interesting, +32 °C near Beaufort Sea and even higher temps in Alaska. Have to watch, that is next Sunday (Jun 11). Image: tropicaltidbits.com.

Shared Humanity

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1686 on: June 01, 2017, 08:40:39 PM »
57 hour loop of Amundsen gulf.  Lots of interesting motion that doesn't look wind driven (much of which is, however).  Breaking up further as well.


Imagery courtesy of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

http://feeder.gina.alaska.edu/npp-gina-alaska-truecolor-images?search%5Bfeeds%5D%5B5%5D=1&search%5Bsensors%5D%5B3%5D=1

All of that ice is very blue.

JimboOmega

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1687 on: June 01, 2017, 08:45:14 PM »
Perfect weather conditions with little clouds on the imagery coming in for today, it is not complete yet, but what is available I have attached. Have to look at all the way forward to June 19th 2016, for a similar situation.

(Edit: Changed image type from PNG to JPG to reduce size, little effects on quality)

Is there any history of this area being open... ever(in the satellite era, anyway)? Along the Greenland North coast, I mean.

I'm not really sure what the implications of it is, so I'm curious if there's anything comparable that's happened.

sondreb

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1688 on: June 01, 2017, 09:09:23 PM »
Perfect weather conditions with little clouds on the imagery coming in for today, it is not complete yet, but what is available I have attached. Have to look at all the way forward to June 19th 2016, for a similar situation.

(Edit: Changed image type from PNG to JPG to reduce size, little effects on quality)

Is there any history of this area being open... ever(in the satellite era, anyway)? Along the Greenland North coast, I mean.

I'm not really sure what the implications of it is, so I'm curious if there's anything comparable that's happened.

You can read more about the event here: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=90245

You can view a few years back easily here, just hover the date on the top and change year: http://www.arctic.io/explorer/4Xa5A/2017-06-01/8-N82.50546-W48.71926

Andreas T

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1689 on: June 01, 2017, 09:44:08 PM »
to quickly look over a longer time period you could also watch this animation https://www.climate.gov/news-features/videos/old-ice-arctic-vanishingly-rare
What is seen here is ice moving away from the coast, with a change in wind direction this opening can disappear quickly. I don't think this is significant.
Have a look at 2014 there is open water in that area later in the year, mid August.

Lord M Vader

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1690 on: June 01, 2017, 09:49:19 PM »
How will the Arctic sea ice respond to Donald J. Trumps message that US is leaving the Paris deal? Blow up and go way lower than 2012? Including an ice free North Pole?

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1691 on: June 02, 2017, 01:23:14 AM »
As a friendly reminder, skills scores for D5 and beyond are still in the tank. Use ensemble means for D5/D6 and nothing beyond that timeframe as both the EC and GFS are suffering significant skill deficits atm (the EC is suffering somewhat less than the GFS).

That said, the forecast to D5 concentrates heat over the Kara/Barents, Hudson and Chukchi areas with near to slightly below normal elsewhere. Ensembles past that point continue to torch the Atlantic margin (again over the Kara/Barents), Hudson and most of the Pacific margin with some respite to the ESS and CAA.

The Hudson and Kara/Barents areas look to vaporize pretty quickly under severe melting pressure.

dt/dprog shows a shift towards ridging in a week on the EPS. We'll see if that holds over the next couple of days. If it does, then the only thing holding this back from a cliff will be the ESS area.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2017, 01:32:42 AM by Csnavywx »

ipexnet

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1692 on: June 02, 2017, 01:33:39 AM »
Totally agree with this. Watching what was for years stable MYI, now just drifting to oblivion. And, the uncorked effect spreading the discharge for 100s of miles into again what had been very stable pack ice. At first I didn't think the transport was going to be anything big (no frame of reference from prior years). But now watching the flushing, just insane.

Anyone else thinking:

Nares is to ASI as Thwaites is to WAIS?

Watching ice drain down through the Strait 1.5 to 2 months earlier than ever before, draining the bottom of the ASI like someone pulled the plug in a bathtub, as it were, is the most disconcerting thing I've seen since 2012.

I believe this is ripping the "backbone" out of the ASI pack, reducing the integrity of the whole thing. Lordy... if the transport via both Nares and Fram continue through the summer, God help us. Of course, the summers have tended to turn cool and transport to slow, especially in August, so no bets on the table just yet, but this is an entirely new phenomenon WRT to Nares opening so early and anything might happen.

With bated breath...

subgeometer

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1693 on: June 02, 2017, 05:04:00 AM »
The hotspot at Svalbard is getting hotter - the warmest temp I could find today on nullschool was 12.5C, yesterday it was 12.0, a week or so ago around 11. The other green patch south of Svalbard is up to 8.3C

Nares strait SSTs are over a degree warmer than Baffin Bay at around -0.5 or -0.6. Even the water just north of its inlet between Ellesmere and Greenland is at -1.5C which seems surprisingly "warm"

Tigertown

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1694 on: June 02, 2017, 05:17:10 AM »
That's just what shows at the surface. By this time of year a vast quantity of warm water has built up below the surface. Any disturbance that comes through this way can tap into this virtually unlimited source of heat energy. The water is warm for hundreds of meters down.
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Darvince

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1695 on: June 02, 2017, 05:28:43 AM »
The hotspot at Svalbard is getting hotter - the warmest temp I could find today on nullschool was 12.5C, yesterday it was 12.0, a week or so ago around 11. The other green patch south of Svalbard is up to 8.3C

Nares strait SSTs are over a degree warmer than Baffin Bay at around -0.5 or -0.6. Even the water just north of its inlet between Ellesmere and Greenland is at -1.5C which seems surprisingly "warm"
The temperature hotspots in the Barents Sea are greatly exaggerated by an error in GFS's ocean input data, it isn't actually drawing water that hot up to the surface. I would trust the website Tigertown posts SSTs and temperatures deeper down, as well as this link more than what GFS thinks the SSTs are there.

Tigertown

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1696 on: June 02, 2017, 05:40:27 AM »
@Darvince
That appears to be the case, as the same site(CMEMS) has another program for surface temps. that gives a surface reading of 5oC for that area.
"....and the appointed time came for God to bring to ruin those ruining the earth." Revelation 11:18.

Ice Shieldz

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1697 on: June 02, 2017, 06:19:27 AM »
The winds that drive ice into the Nares stopped on the 31st of May. Yet ice drift from north of Morris Jesup and from the Lincoln Sea continue into the June 1st. Ocean currents at work i assume, quite disturbing. Also note that the ice closer to Morris Jesup is likely been more compacted than the previous ice that was crumbling on the way to the Nares. Sad to see that more solid ice go this soon.

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1698 on: June 02, 2017, 06:54:12 AM »
I get the feeling that there will not be much thick multi year ice left after this summer. A lot of it looks about to go down the drain. It is stunning to see how fast these vast and seemingly solid sheets of ice fall to pieces.

Rob Dekker

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Re: The 2017 melting season
« Reply #1699 on: June 02, 2017, 08:05:13 AM »
May's bizarrely low rate of extent decrease is shown very well in this NSIDC monthly average SIE graph:

Amazing, really, to see such a wild upward swing after many months of flat to falling averages. In fact, it appears to be the largest year-to-year same-month spike in nearly four years.

It looks like the rather 'cool' May (after many months of above-average temps) has at least slowed down melting in the periphery.

The next PIOMAS update (any day now) should give an indication of how much that affects overall ice volume, and thus what the status is of the Arctic going into the melting season.

And let it be noted that May 2016 was just off-the-chart low, which makes the year-to-year same-month spike look extra large.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2017, 08:12:37 AM by Rob Dekker »
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