Aug 10-16
After 2 days of large drops of the minimum in the Laptev sector, only small changes today. Retreat on the Atlantic side and advance on the Pacific side. Is the melt season starting to stall?
Hmm, slow down probably, but the strong Beaufort gyre action along with the wind we've seen, and the large transpolar drift movement toward the Fram/Atlantic have undoubtedly skewed extent numbers a bit. Even then, the waters still seem to be making pretty good progress on the ice getting shoved in them, concentration losses in the Beaufort and Fram. I'm a little surprised at the amount of Kara retreat, given the SSTs, the drift and wind effect on water there must me stronger than I thought?
Also, I'd love to see a working model of the circulation going on in the Arctic right now. Between the pressure differences over most of Pacific pack and Kara, and the big cyclone in the North Atlantic. There's been a big meriodional anomaly this season, continuing with winds headed right up the Bering. Between the winds, pressure, cyclone I imagine it paints a pretty interesting picture. I'm guessing the cyclone will contribute some moisture, precipitation in the next week or so.