The caa-greenland mega crack

[JayW]

https://rammb-slider.cira.colostate.edu/?sat=jpss&z=4&im=12&ts=1&st=0&et=0&speed=130&motion=loop&map=1&lat=0&opacity%5B0%5D=1&hidden%5B0%5D=0&pause=20200627010753&slider=-1&hide_controls=1&mouse_draw=0&follow_feature=0&follow_hide=0&s=rammb-slider&sec=northern_hemisphere&p%5B0%5D=band_i02&x=17979.02734375&y=16730.888671875

Nansen sound and it's very dark ice in the lower right.

Click to run

[pearscot]

Today's the first real clear day above Greenland and the CAA. It's been warm in that entire region and it appears as though this crack will continue to grow as the pack melts more and can spin more freely in the gyre.

[pearscot]

But wait, there's more. Now that the rest of the imagery was cached from Worldview you can see the extent to which the entire pack is both mobile and fractured

[be cause]

There was a lift-off of the ice East of Alert around to the Nares enterance . It can be seen best on Worldview atm as you zoom in @ 50km/50ml a.. as you zoom closer the frame changes to showing cracking but the departure from shore is no longer clear .
  Lincoln is an amazing zone of shear , disintergration and melting of what looked like the safest ice in the Arctic only 2 weeks ago .
         +++             It's now gettin' ground up like salt in situ !  b.c.

[JayW]

There was a lift-off of the ice East of Alert around to the Nares enterance . It can be seen best on Worldview atm as you zoom in @ 50km/50ml a.. as you zoom closer the frame changes to showing cracking but the departure from shore is no longer clear .
  Lincoln is an amazing zone of shear , disintergration and melting of what looked like the safest ice in the Arctic only 2 weeks ago .
         +++             It's now gettin' ground up like salt in situ !  b.c.

As it happened. Click to run.

[be cause]

Thanks JayW .. the moment has been lost now from Worldview .. but you have captured it beautifully .. bc

[JayW]

Thanks JayW .. the moment has been lost now from Worldview .. but you have captured it beautifully .. bc

There is also a rapid and significant darkening of the ice picked up by the visible bands, likely due to warming air descending of the landmass and blowing over the ice.  Shows up in AMSR2.

[blumenkraft]

RAMMB stuck again?

[JayW]

RAMMB stuck again?

Appears that way, I fired over a email just now.  Hopefully it helps.

[blumenkraft]

Thanks, mate! 👍🏽

[uniquorn]

The crack must have gone 

[uniquorn]

or not    https://go.nasa.gov/3gKlrku

[blumenkraft]

The crack must have gone 

Yes, a polynya has replaced it. 

[Pagophilus]

Thanks for pointing me here, pearscot.  You and I have similar replies on the melting thread.  Here are the images which are particularly clear from July 13 Worldview.  First time I had noticed it opening significantly off Greenland at this time of year.    Ominous stuff.   

Any names for this beast ... the Kraken, or Cracken?   

[oren]

It's all part of the crazy movement and compaction of ice induced by the unending HP/anti-cyclone in the CAB. At least it's better than if the thick ice in the Lincoln Sea and above the CAA moved the other way, towards Fram and oblivion.

[pearscot]

That is just a huge area of open water exposed to the sun. Granted that water is about as cold as it can get and still be liquid, but it will most certainly be soaking up energy. I keep wondering if some critical level will be reached where the ice becomes so detached from the land that it can freely spin in the gyre - my concern with that is the warm peripheral water will be able to continually melt the uneven edges. I need to do some calculations, but wow this is already a fairly large region which would normally send most of that energy right back.

[oren]

As long as ice area isn't crashing, energy soaked here will be reflected somewhere else. And the 2-3m ice in the Lincoln Sea can easily overcome the enrrgy soaked in a few days or even weeks by this crack. I wouldn't worry too much about this aspect.
The pack becoming more mobile could be a concern. Upwelling of warm salty water could also have an effecy. And dispersion of ice into the Siberian seas will also lead to quick demise.

[CraigsIsland]

But wait, there's more. Now that the rest of the imagery was cached from Worldview you can see the extent to which the entire pack is both mobile and fractured

Interesting new feature with Pikachu - looks rather large.

[pearscot]

But wait, there's more. Now that the rest of the imagery was cached from Worldview you can see the extent to which the entire pack is both mobile and fractured

Interesting new feature with Pikachu - looks rather large.

The surprised Pikachu face is how I felt when I made that. At a loss for words and just like: is this reality right now??

[blumenkraft]

The surprised Pikachu face

Wait, one does not simply bring up Pikachu face without making it a propper meme!

[CraigsIsland]

But wait, there's more. Now that the rest of the imagery was cached from Worldview you can see the extent to which the entire pack is both mobile and fractured

Interesting new feature with Pikachu - looks rather large.

The surprised Pikachu face is how I felt when I made that. At a loss for words and just like: is this reality right now??

Pretty accurate reaction to have. It's early in the season for that feature to open up.

Year in, year out..

[UCMiami]

The crack north of greenland has widen by about 15 km in the last 24 hours on the western section of the attached image from WV and the elongated flow on the middle right of the image has moved west about 42 km in the same 24 hours (and turned) A lot of movement which has to be creating turbulence in the water.

[uniquorn]

More fast ice breaking off Ellesmere Island and NE Greenland. Rammb has shown a lot of turbulence during open water events north of Greenland in the past.

[JayW]

RAMMB fully updating, for now.
Check out the little holes in the Sverdrup channel, the tides are already trying to enlarge the bigger one.
Needs click

[uniquorn]

Similar to last year, I think.
Maybe you can catch this.. click
The fast ice north of Princess Thyra Island lifted off between aqua and terra passes, jul14

[pearscot]

The surprised Pikachu face

Wait, one does not simply bring up Pikachu face without making it a propper meme!

LOL that made my day! Ha, that's exactly what I've been thinking whenever I fire up the ol' worldview to see the daily changes.

[JayW]

For uniquorn, these are all the images that were available.

Second is just east of Nansen sound.  Lots of areas breaking up the CAA

Both need clicks.

[VeliAlbertKallio]

It seems me clear that the usual footing on Russian side having been lost record early and lot, has had an impact for the sea ice footing of the American side. Back in 2006 I predicted (and repeated at my RSE VII presentation at "Arctic - Mirror of Life Symposium" 2007) that lop-sided Polar Sea Ice cap would emerge once sea ice's spatial extent diminishes. The smaller radius the central pack has, the more spatial dislodgement will emerge. Ultimately, the limit is how far winds and currents can push ice to one direction. This seems to be the case now, with also QE islands void filled by lose ice debris.

https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-1428665.4368975572,-698424.6018564447,-691385.4368975572,-269880.60185644473&p=arctic

I do not know yet if my other RSE VII prediction that compacted ice packs would survive far more pounding than dispersed ones, has reality to it. If so, then we may end with large sea ice area of rotten ice. This kind of soft, honeycombed ice obviously is extremely sensitive to wind damage like GAC 2012. But in the absence of winds, and setting sun, we might end with extraordinary amount of poor quality ice by the autumn. Would the present setting enhance such long lasting stills until the fall and darkness?

But wait, there's more. Now that the rest of the imagery was cached from Worldview you can see the extent to which the entire pack is both mobile and fractured

Interesting new feature with Pikachu - looks rather large.

The surprised Pikachu face is how I felt when I made that. At a loss for words and just like: is this reality right now??

[interstitial]

Against the coast there is where all the thickest ice is. In years past I thought all it was doing is opening the crack and closing it. If it is seriously melting.....

[uniquorn]

For uniquorn, these are all the images that were available.
Second is just east of Nansen sound.  Lots of areas breaking up the CAA

No time stamps on wolrdview so rammb adds more info. Coastal winds at princess thyra island were 40km/h at 1000hPa, only 21km/h at Ellesmere Is. That both lift off's happened at the same time could just be coincidence. There wasn't a large tide at Alert.

edit: They are probably caused by melt further upstream which can be seen in both cases.
edit2: but 4 lift off's in 4 days??

[uniquorn]

'crack' ice didn't really settle down fully till jan1, had a small lift off again around pgas on feb29, mar21 and 31, then apr28. A larger lift off started on may13. The most recent jun27.
uni-hamburg amsr2-uhh, caa-crack, sep21-jul14  (8.2MB)

[JayW]

North of Ellesmere.
Interesting little counter current there.

[pearscot]

Wow, I didn't realize just how quickly all the ice in the region was actually moving. The arctic is such a dynamic system in general!

it really is hard to imagine just how much a small change like that crack can make. Ice that would normally just be glued to the coast is now just gliding parallel to it.

[uniquorn]

Drift that requires an explanation

[uniquorn]

Clear day, big picture. https://go.nasa.gov/2ZRSZaB

[pearscot]

After watching this crack grow/morph all season, I'm growing increasingly convinced that soon the ice at the Western edge of Ellesmere Island  will eventually meet up with the North Canadian coastline as the Beaufort either melts out or spins more in the gyre.

Either way, the ice flow now possible into the Nares Strait (from what I've roughly measured on Worldview) is about 10km per day. I think if the ice were solid between Ellesmere and Greenland, the crack would extend all the way around Greenland's north coast.

All that said, I think the mega crack will continue to grow and I suspect will become a mini-Fram export. Plus, after 2019, I think it's becoming clear that this crack is becoming a new feature of the Arctic. It's kinda wild to think that some of the coastlines have probably not had water splash on them for maybe the last 100 years. I'd love to see really old satellite imagery of the arctic.

[johnm33]

I think/guess the vortices which supplememented the wind action remain connected at depth, where they're [re]generated, bending over the shelf like a tornado. They in turn generate sub vortices which move up any channels they get formed in, the ridge pointing west from A.H.I./E.I. gap at 300m is too big to cross so the main action slips into the deep. Here the vortice will lose ground to the rotating frame but how much probably depends both on mass movements where it connects at it's base and on it's spin.
The surge which generated the vortices moves seperately pushing into the CAA, adding inertia, and Canada Basin bringing turbulence to Beaufort. With the low north of FJL we should see enhanced flow of Atl. waters towards Nares and beyond so further warming ++salinity of seas passing through CAA.

[oren]

A small hole in the ice appeared on the 17th at the top of Ellef Ringnes Island, and has grown since. Not sure if it will have time to join the rest of the crack.

https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?v=-1120252.1287857858,-613426.33462354,-923644.1287857859,-516146.33462354005&p=arctic&t=2020-07-21-T12%3A40%3A11Z&l=Reference_Features(hidden),Coastlines,Graticule(hidden),VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_BandsM11-I2-I1(hidden),VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_BandsM3-I3-M11(hidden),VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_Bands721(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_Bands367(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_Bands721(hidden)

[JayW]

NW Greenland. Revisiting a feature from lat year. I included more of the opening in case there is interest in the motion there.  82 hours, kinda big sorry, did my best.
Click to bring to life.

[pearscot]

It continues to impress and I'l be interested in seeing what happens to the Atlantic side this coming week.

[KenB]

4 day (7/23-7/27) breakup off the northernmost tip of Greenland:

[Pmt111500]

The weather forecast looks like the crack (gap) could easily become 100 km wide. Basing this on the vaguely remembered images of northern most melts on Baltic and storms moving ice floes from Finnish coast to Swedish coast...

[JayW]

Love watching these eddies.
Needs click.

[Pmt111500]

Love watching these eddies.
Needs click.

Yep, tries to separate but the waves to the shore keep on twisting the flow of the floes.

[uniquorn]

Westward motion is slowing. That floe must have landed gently on the tip of Axel Heilberg.
jul19-29

[uniquorn]

amsr2-uhh view, jul21-28

[KenB]

Westward motion is slowing. That floe must have landed gently on the tip of Axel Heilberg.
jul19-29

The one shaped like a boat, I assume you mean?  I've been watching that, too.  It now seems like the island is taking a bit of a bite out of the floe, maybe not so gently. 

As nice as it is to have WorldView, what I'd like here is WorldHear, so I can find out what it sounds like for a 20km piece of ice to bounce into an even bigger rock.

[Freegrass]

The mega crack is opening up again.

[glennbuck]

The one shaped like a boat, I assume you mean?  I've been watching that, too.  It now seems like the island is taking a bit of a bite out of the floe, maybe not so gently. 

As nice as it is to have WorldView, what I'd like here is WorldHear, so I can find out what it sounds like for a 20km piece of ice to bounce into an even bigger rock.

This rare footage has gone on record as the largest glacier calving event ever captured on film, by the 2016 Guiness Book of World Records.

On May 28, 2008, Adam LeWinter and Director Jeff Orlowski filmed a historic breakup at the Ilulissat Glacier in Western Greenland.  The calving event lasted for 75 minutes and the glacier retreated a full mile across a calving face three miles wide. The height of the ice is about 3,000 feet, 300-400 feet above water and the rest below water.

[JayW]

A brief peek through the clouds of the eddies north of Ellesmere Island.
Click to run