Author Topic: Daily SMOS Ice Thickness available: season 2015/2016 (Read 72572 times)

Wipneus · « **Reply #50 on:** November 14, 2014, 08:11:58 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
-thickening in the Laptev;
-the Pacific side (Beaufort, Chukchi and west-ESS) is reluctant to freezing
-lack of large scale ice movement

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #51 on:** November 14, 2014, 08:14:30 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on November 11. The open state in the western part of the East Siberian Sea stays the most outstanding feature in 2014.

Wipneus · « **Reply #52 on:** November 22, 2014, 07:55:46 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
-thickening of the existing thin ice on the Eurasian side;
-the Pacific side (mostly Chukchi and west-ESS) is reluctant to freezing
-extending ice cover on the Atlantic side ( Hudson, Baffin and Barents);
-some transport through Nares and Fram Straits otherwise lack of large scale ice movement

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #53 on:** November 22, 2014, 07:59:22 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on November 20. The open state in the western part of the East Siberian Sea remains a most outstanding feature in 2014. O the other side of the basin, the Barents sea ice is thicker than in the other years.

Wipneus · « **Reply #54 on:** November 28, 2014, 09:02:48 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
-thickening of the existing ice in most regions. Laptev is a notable exception, last year this led to the extensive open water this year;
-the Pacific side (mostly Chukchi and west-ESS) is still reluctant to freezing, but the covered parts thicken quickly
-extending ice cover mostly in the Hudson region (although the image has cut off most of it);
-visible transport in Nares and a gyre in the Beafort;

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #55 on:** November 28, 2014, 09:10:16 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on November 26 2010-2014. The open water in the Chukchi and East Siberian Sea is more extensive in 2014 then other years, but the thickness of the ice covered parts in these regions is bigger than in 2010. On the others side 2014 has more ice cover in the Kara and Barents Seas.

Wipneus · « **Reply #56 on:** December 05, 2014, 09:18:25 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
-spectacular freezing over the Hudson Bay;
-ice moving in an anti-dipole direction, stopping Fram export and the Beaufort Gyre;
-the reluctant open water in the Chukchi and ESS regions may go soon as a result;

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #57 on:** December 05, 2014, 09:24:25 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on December 02 2010-2014.
There is more open water in Chukchi and ESS. At the same time the ice cover is larger in the Barents Region than other years. This is true now in the Hudson Bay as well.

Wipneus · « **Reply #58 on:** December 12, 2014, 10:01:18 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
-the Hudson Bay frozen over;
-ice is increasing fast in the Chukchi;
-the ice in the Greenland and Barents sea moving with strong winds due to passing cyclones;

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #59 on:** December 12, 2014, 10:07:01 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on December 10 2010-2014.
Chukchi has lost its position as the year with the lowest ice cover, the thickness of the ice in the Barents Sea is unique. Hudson ice cover reached 100% a few days ahead of the rest and the thickness in the Greenland Sea seems to be somewhat larger than usual.

Wipneus · « **Reply #60 on:** December 19, 2014, 11:04:19 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- Chukchi freezes over;
- Larger scale ice movements:
- Beaufort->Chukchi
- Fram Strait exit;
- a broad movement from Barents, Kara and Laptev toward the central basin

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #61 on:** December 19, 2014, 11:09:53 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on December 17 2010-2014.
Most of the ice has grown now thicker than 0.5 m, obscuring the differences with other years. The only significant feature (as far as I can tell) is still the thickness of the ice in the Barents Sea

viddaloo · « **Reply #62 on:** December 19, 2014, 11:27:33 AM »

I think I can see remnants of the 'Laptev Bite' in the blue less than half meter ice spot right up from the North Pole circle. I also notice the whole upper and right hand side of the 2014 map has much thinner ice than previously. It will be interesting to watch the 2015 thaw.

Wipneus · « **Reply #63 on:** December 26, 2014, 10:39:48 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- ice growth in the Bering, Barents and Baffin regions;
- large scale ice movement in the Beaufort and the Fram Strait;
- the ice factory in the Laptev operating.

(please click for the animation)

Wipneus · « **Reply #64 on:** December 26, 2014, 10:44:44 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on December 24 2010-2014.
The ice in the Barents and Greenland Seas seems to have more +0.5m ice than usual.

Wipneus · « **Reply #65 on:** January 02, 2015, 09:13:31 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- ice expanding in the Bering Sea and then retreating;
- something similar in the Barents Sea;
- continuing, perhaps a bit slower, export through the Fram;
- thin ice along the coast in Laptev and the Alaskan coast;

I had a look at the ice streaming in the Nares Strait. We know it is very new ice and probably less than 10cm thick. The resolution of the SMOS instrument is probably not good enough for the narrow channel.

(click for the animation to start)

Wipneus · « **Reply #66 on:** January 02, 2015, 09:16:29 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on December 31 2011-2014.
(no data in 2010)

The ice in the Bering is less and in Barents more than in other years.

Wipneus · « **Reply #67 on:** January 09, 2015, 08:05:37 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- ice retreating in the Barents and Bering Seas;
- ice thickness in the Chukchi is still around 0.5m;
- collapse of the "arch" in the Lincoln Sea, blocking the Nares Strait transport;
- continuing Fram Strait export.

(click for the animation to start)

Wipneus · « **Reply #68 on:** January 09, 2015, 08:11:19 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Jan 7 2011-2015.

Even taking into account that the Bering Sea was not covered fully until 2014, it is clear that the ice is unusually low/absent.

Peter Ellis · « **Reply #69 on:** January 09, 2015, 12:44:59 PM »

Hudson Bay seems substantially thinner than recent years, too

Wipneus · « **Reply #70 on:** January 16, 2015, 07:53:00 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- thickening of the ice in the Chukchi Sea;
- the ice in the Beaufort shows some thinning at first but that reverses again;
- lack of ice growth in the Bering Sea;
- Ice grows in the Barents Sea near the Russian shore;
- transport in the Nares and Fram Straits.

(click for the animation to start)

Wipneus · « **Reply #71 on:** January 16, 2015, 07:59:29 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Jan 13 2015.

Lack of ice in the Bering Sea is the outstanding feature. Ice in the Greenland Sea shows as quite thick (winds have compressed the ice against the land).

jdallen · « **Reply #72 on:** January 16, 2015, 05:06:11 PM »

Quote from: Wipneus on January 16, 2015, 07:59:29 AM

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Jan 13 2015.

Lack of ice in the Bering Sea is the outstanding feature. Ice in the Greenland Sea shows as quite thick (winds have compressed the ice against the land).

From this perspective, nothing unusual at this scale, as compared to the 2000's, save the Bering and Nares. Highlights the challenges of understanding the structural changes in the ice.

Wipneus · « **Reply #73 on:** January 23, 2015, 12:59:04 PM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- ice moving in the Beaufort region towards Chukchi;
- ice slowly expanding in the Bering Sea;
- ice expanding in the Barents Sea;
- export through the Nares and Fram Straits.

(click for the animation to start)

Wipneus · « **Reply #74 on:** January 23, 2015, 01:05:32 PM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Jan 20 2015.

Lack of ice in the Bering Sea is the outstanding feature. Looking hard enough I might be convinced that you can see that this year is the only one with the Nares Strait still open.

Wipneus · « **Reply #75 on:** January 30, 2015, 09:39:34 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 10 days. What can be seen:
- the ice moving in the Beaufort region towards Chukchi stops;
- ice expands in the Bering Sea by freezing;
- ice expands in the Barents Sea by transport;
- Fram Strait export stops, ice in the Greenland Sea compacts;
- with that, the ice movement north of Greenland goes retrograde;

(click for the animation to start)

Wipneus · « **Reply #76 on:** January 30, 2015, 09:48:31 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Jan 28 2015.

We cannot really say that the ice in the Bering Sea is the lowest, the measurements in 2011, 2012 and 2013 are too limited for that.
Compared with the other years, 2015 seems to have more ice thicker than 0.5 m (reminder to myself: I should really quantify this instead of eye-balling).

Wipneus · « **Reply #77 on:** February 13, 2015, 09:24:06 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- Bering sea covering with thin ice, this is due to the rather strong northern winds;
- from this I expected the ice in Chukchi would be thickening. I cannot see that happening;
- the southern winds move the ice away from Laptev leaving lots of thin ice;
- some apparent thinning in Kara, here and in the Barents Sea the ice is proving to be quite mobile;
- thin ice in the Nares Strait;
- few breaks in the ice on the Beaufort, Canadian, North Greenland sides;

(click for the animation)

Wipneus · « **Reply #78 on:** February 13, 2015, 09:41:56 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Feb 11.

Around this time an arch in the Nares Strait established in 2013, and IIRC before that in the previous years as well. Having an open Nares Strait may explain the somewhat thicker ice in the Baffin Bay.

Wipneus · « **Reply #79 on:** February 20, 2015, 08:13:07 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- expansion in the Bering Sea with thin ice;
- ice exported from the Laptev Sea, which is replaced by new thin ice;
- Barents Sea cover retreating and then expanding;
- Ice on the northern Svalbard shores.

(click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #80 on:** February 20, 2015, 08:19:33 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Feb 18.

The Bering Sea cover is thinner than usual, any blue ice in the ESS is unusual too. the sea ice in the Barents Sea seems to be thicker than in the previous years, but the animation showed how variable that can be!

andy_t_roo · « **Reply #81 on:** February 21, 2015, 12:07:20 AM »

Do you know how thick(>.6m), but broken ice would show as?

Wipneus · « **Reply #82 on:** March 06, 2015, 06:47:31 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- retracting ice in the Bering Sea;
- mobile ice in the Beaufort;
- ice moving near the coast of south-west Greenland.

(your click is needed to start the animation)

Wipneus · « **Reply #83 on:** March 06, 2015, 06:50:56 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on Mar 4.

Little an thin ice in the Bering Sea, opposite in the Barents Sea

Wipneus · « **Reply #84 on:** March 06, 2015, 06:55:14 AM »

Quote from: andy_t_roo on February 21, 2015, 12:07:20 AM

Do you know how thick(>.6m), but broken ice would show as?

Andy, it is my understanding that if there is thin ice, or even open water, between the thick floats, the result would show thickness less than 0.6m.

Wipneus · « **Reply #85 on:** March 13, 2015, 08:58:56 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- ~~retracting~~expanding ice in the Bering Sea;
- the developing ESS/Laptev crack;
- the movement of ice in the Barents and Kara Seas due low pressure over Svalbard;
- ice transport south alog the east Greenland coast

(your click is needed to start the animation)

Wipneus · « **Reply #86 on:** March 13, 2015, 09:02:17 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on March 11.

Little an thin ice in the Bering Sea, opposite in the Barents Sea

Wipneus · « **Reply #87 on:** March 20, 2015, 07:35:36 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- ice expanding in the Bering Sea, some of it exported through the strait;
- the developing ESS-Laptev crack;
- thick (>.5m) ice clearing from Novaya Zemlya;
- expanding thin ice in the Hudson Bay.

(click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #88 on:** March 20, 2015, 07:54:46 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on March 18.

Looking for "unique" features in 2015, almost nothing stands out. The crack in the East Siberian Sea is one.

Wipneus · « **Reply #89 on:** March 27, 2015, 07:12:07 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- expanding ice in the Bering and Barents Seas;
- development of the great cracks in the East Siberian and Laptev Seas;
- opening of the Open Water in the north of the Baffin Bay.

(click required)

Wipneus · « **Reply #90 on:** March 27, 2015, 07:31:43 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on March 25.

Nothing really stands out. The crack in the ESS has not been seen recently, ice is rather thick in the Barents and Kara Seas.

Wipneus · « **Reply #91 on:** April 03, 2015, 08:22:21 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- beautiful visible start of the Beaufort Gyre;
- expansion in the Bering Sea;
- thin ice in the top of the Hudson Bay;
- ice exported through the Fram Strait;

(click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #92 on:** April 03, 2015, 08:29:02 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on April 1
Except for the Bering Sea, the ice is among the thickest is most regions..

Wipneus · « **Reply #93 on:** April 10, 2015, 08:14:25 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- retreat of the ice in the Bering, Barents and Greenland Seas, as well as the Baffin Bay;
- the Beaufort Gyre causing more and deeper cracks;
- thin ice entering Chukchi Sea from the Bering Sea;
- ice solidifying in the East Siberian Sea.

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #94 on:** April 10, 2015, 08:27:53 AM »

And a comparison of the SMOS derived ice thickness on April 9.
The cracks in the Beaufort draw attention, but are nothing compared with 2013 after the Great Cracking Event.

crandles · « **Reply #95 on:** April 10, 2015, 11:20:57 AM »

The impression I had from looking at Modis was that ice was exiting through Bering Strait leaving thinner ice behind. Is "thin ice entering Chukchi Sea from the Bering Sea" or am I correct or are there tides both ways so it is a bit of both or something else?

Wipneus · « **Reply #96 on:** April 10, 2015, 11:33:39 AM »

Thanks crandles, I think you are right. Attached an animation based on Uni Hamburgs sea ice concentration map (some interference due to the bumpy release update from the Jaxa satellite data).

jdallen · « **Reply #97 on:** April 10, 2015, 05:19:04 PM »

Quote from: Wipneus on April 10, 2015, 11:33:39 AM

Thanks crandles, I think you are right. Attached an animation based on Uni Hamburgs sea ice concentration map (some interference due to the bumpy release update from the Jaxa satellite data).

Agree as well. Watching the sequence, I'll be surprised if the Bering ice survives much more than another week. We may see more ice appear, but it will be export from the Chukchi.

Wipneus · « **Reply #98 on:** April 17, 2015, 08:11:55 AM »

Animation of SMOS ice thickness in the past 9 days. What can be seen:

- expanding ice in the Bering Sea;
- thinning in the Kara Sea from the west;
- continuing Fram Strait export.

(needs a click to animate)

Wipneus · « **Reply #99 on:** October 24, 2015, 12:41:11 PM »

SMOS sea ice thickness data has resumed for the new freezing season. Here is an animation for the first 20 days.

I increased the ice thickness top of the scale from 0.5m to 1.2m, with greys upto 1.4m. This refelects the confidence that the producers of the SMOS data apparently have:

http://congrexprojects.com/custom/15C04/Presentation/S1_03_Kaleschke.pdf

(click the image to start animating)

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Author Topic: Daily SMOS Ice Thickness available: season 2015/2016 (Read 72572 times)