The 'Very Big Chunk' poll

[oren]

All hell breaks loose above Greenland, and you guys are only interested in bits and pieces in Nares Strait?

that's crazy for you  I never knew that bit was the wandel sea

Never heard of the Wandel Sea either. But then again, Espen is the supreme master of all things Greenland.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandel_Sea

[Sam]

All hell breaks loose above Greenland, and you guys are only interested in bits and pieces in Nares Strait?

Agreed. The massive movement from the Lincoln Sea across the Wandel Sea all the way to the Atlantic is stunning. So too is the movement to the west, north of the Queen Elizabeth Islands, as all of the ice there separates from land and shatters, only to be pulled into the Beaufort Sea grinder.

Combine those with the Lincoln Sea siphon and grinder and it is a really rugged year for multi-year arctic ice.

[uniquorn]

Interesting. We do a bit of R&R after posting for 2 days about CAA and Greenland and....
Edit: Apologies. I get it.

[charles_oil]

On these polls (and other more serious ones  )  would it be possible to put the actual result and/or winning categorie(s) on the header graph so later we can easily spot the result ?  Thanks

[b_lumenkraft]

On these polls (and other more serious ones  )  would it be possible to put the actual result and/or winning categorie(s) on the header graph so later we can easily spot the result ?  Thanks

Good idea Charles. I locked voting now and updated the original post.

[Tor Bejnar]

The largest remaining piece of VBC hit Hans Island yesterday.  DMI images made into a GIF (using GIFmaker.org).  B_ may know what happened, but I'm waiting with bated breath!

[b_lumenkraft]

B_ may know what happened, but I'm waiting with bated breath!

Sorry Tor, it's cloudy as of the latest pic. I'm right there with you, waiting.

[Tor Bejnar]

Surprise, surprise: it shattered. (Today's DMI Sentinel image)

[gerontocrat]

Perhaps the significance to take way from the unhappy story of the demise of Very Big Chunk is that it put up such a feeble resistance to disintegration.

Does this suggest that the rest of the ice being dragged into the Nares or towards the Fram is equally in such poor nick? If so, assumptions regarding the structural integrity of the remaining multi-year ice may need adjusting downwards, and its mobility upwards.

[be cause]

it seems that VBC put up exactly the resistance that 50% of those who voted expected .. even the lump that hit Hans island just split in 2 and travelled on toward it's demise . I recall suggesting Nares may never close again when export started last summer ; seeing the state of the best ice in the Arctic and it's hurry to depart I am wondering what if anything could bring it to a halt . It has , after all , been the coldest winter for years in the area .. something one wouldn't guess by looking at the state of things . b.c.

[Tor Bejnar]

I've been watching Nares Strait for most of a decade and don't believe any single floe has plugged the Strait for more than a couple days during this time, so I think floes' strength has 'always' been over rated.  (Icebergs are different, although the bergs that might have closed Nares for significant time didn't, e.g., the biggest, PII-2012, didn't.)

What is alarming to me, in this regard, is that floes in the High Arctic are so fragile that 'the best' break during the brief stay of an expedition.

[Alphabet Hotel]

The last two Sentinel-1 images show the wedge of ice to the east has stopped moving. The black line shows the boundary as near as I can tell.

[Tor Bejnar]

Here is a GIF from May 10 to 14 (note: skipped 13th and 2 images dated 14, so there is a 'jump' and a 'baby step'; 1st & last images extended duration)  The biggest remnants of the VBC break up with contact with Hans Island (lower left corner) or with contact with Greenland.
DMI images

[b_lumenkraft]

 
Hans went through that round floe like a bullet!

[Tor Bejnar]

Without moving a muscle!

[be cause]

nearly 4000sq km .. it should take a couple of days just to squeeze itself through .. so I say 'not at all'..  ..  it's passage would amount to 5% of Nare's entire export in the ever-flowing year that was 2007 .
even taking a couple of weeks to pass would mean accelerating export .. b.c.

it did take a couple of weeks .. the last pieces have entered Nares .. along with other ice .. so over 4000sqkm in 2 weeks .. not huge in the scale of the Arctic but every day the remaining ice is more 'fluid' .. at the whim of current and wind . b.c.

[ArcticMelt2]

Another large ice floe of the oldest ice entered the strait and collapsed into a couple of pieces. Another similar ice floe is preparing for the entrance to the strait.

Destroyed the last oldest ice of the Arctic.

[ArcticMelt2]

Animation

[ArcticMelt2]

[ArcticMelt2]

Now the oldest ice does not reach the Fram Strait, but is destroyed in the Lincoln Sea.

[be cause]

First year ice .. melts .second year ice mostly melts , third year ice mostly leaves via Fram or melts in Beaufort , fourth and fifth year ice goes via Nares and later the garlic press . How much of what have we got in September ? b.c.