Analyzing yesterday’s MODIS tiles, I see perfectly reflected that the Arctic sea ice is in bad shape for the time of the year.
Blue hues indicate melting snow and initial melt pond formation. Around the Chukchi Sea over 1.2 Mkm2, 15 Kkm2 in Coronation Gulf CAA, in the Gulf of Boothia, 300 Kkm2 in the Labrador Sea and Hudson Strait, all not landfast sea ice in the East Greenland Sea.
Big polynia’s; 180 Kkm2 in the Beaufort, 43 Kkm2 in the Chukchi, 15 Kkm2 in the Laptev, 30 Kkm2 in the Kara Sea. The North Water polynia in Baffin Bay, about 60 Kkm2.
Rallying leads, larger than ever, running through what once was ‘mesh pattern’ safe ice. All this torsion leaves just 650 Kkm2 near the Pole and the Lincoln Sea unaffected.
Shattered ice, breaking up into millions of smaller floes. All of Kara Sea, including the ice in the free moving Vilkitsky Strait. The CAB near Svalbard and Frantsa Yosefa, where the big 100 Kkm2 swath of open sea to the N is in formation once more. Of course in the Beaufort and Chukchi, where the process is in full swing over 1 Mkm2. All remaining ice in Baffin Bay, just above 400 Kkm2.
Foxe Basin and Northern Hudson Bay are in the process of being wind-swept into open water.
To finish; around the small islands in Nares Strait the structure of older floes becomes visible, suggesting that the ice is thin and will soon start breaking.