Even this early, things can change rapidly with the right weather and a strong southerly wind has really done a number on the sea ice from Svalbard to Franz Joseph Land to North Kara over the last several days.

Well, I guess you have to load your own archived charts to make the first link work.

Here's the Sea Ice chart for the Western Canadian Arctic for last year on 9/19 (when sea ice was below normal) http://dynaweb.cis.ec.gc.ca/Archive10/page3.jsf?lang=en&image=http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/www_archive/AOI_10/Charts/sc_a10_20110919_WIS56CT.gif&imageId=72308 compare it to 9/10 this year (9/17 should be up tomorrow) http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/WIS56CT/20120910180000_WIS56CT_0006645773.gif

As to the high SST anomaly in the Canadian Beaufort (which actually is centered on the Mackenzie). It is warmer than normal,and setting some records, in the MacKenzie Valley all the way to the coast, and it is predicted to stay that way for at least the next week http://weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pages/nt-20_metric_e.html Secondly, by this time there would normally be some Sea Ice rotating down from the arctic towards the coast. Not new ice but old ice coming down along the CA coast. That isn't happening yet because of the summer melt, storms, and the ability of ice to flow into the CA right now. Warmer than normal temputures + no sea ice from the north=high anomaly

This says the low yesterday was 48 and the high 60 http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/PAMR/2012/9/18/MonthlyHistory.html#calendar

The impact that the storm rolling up East Greenland to Svalbard shows up quite nicely on the Godiva maps A4R provides: https://sites.google.com/site/apocalypse4realseaice2012/home/sea-ice-concentration-and-thickness-comparison While the storm looks formidable, it doesn't look exceptional, thus the notch being cut into the icepack North of Svalbard seems to speak more of the weakness and malleability of the ice.

For you East Greenland watchers, it's still quite cloudy, but you can see through enough to tell that the current storm has put quite a beating on the fast ice area off the coast that many fixate upon: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2012239.terra.250m

I'd expect one would be able to reach the north pole before circumnavigating Greenland and I wouldn't want to be on either boat, but yes it is getting closer.

I did find this on Zachariae from 2008, showing it's retreat in the Modis era (since 2002) http://bprc.osu.edu/MODIS/?p=32

Tenney, Thanks for he reply but the area I'm talking about is still there and quite fast. There is a triangular island with 79N running along the north side of the island. Zachariae runs along the SW side. Yesterday's Modis http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2012233.terra.250m clearly shows that the calving edge of Zachariae goes all the way to the southern tip of the island. The area I'm interested in is on the SE part of the island. Was that once part of Zachariae and now just orphaned or was that feature something completely different?

What are we watching for with the spring tides? I have a question for anyone about the Zachariae glacier. While there is still plenty of fast ice on Belgica bank, the ample opening on the North end has enabled quite a bit of coastal ice and ice in the bays containing 79N and Zachariae to flow out. http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2012233.terra.250m It's easy to see where the edge of the glacier is now calving. To the east of that there is an area of fast ice. Was that once part of the glacier and is it now really just an orphaned ice shelf? Or has that been considered a separate feature for some time now? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Espen--re: Jokelbugt It looks like the outer ice is still in place. I don't know what the bathymetry is of that area, but something holds that ice in place while ice closer to shore breaks up and lifts out. http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2012223.terra.500m

From the Canadian Ice service are the charts for the Alaskan Coast/Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/WIS40CT/20120806180000_WIS40CT_0006579839.gif http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/WIS45CT/20120806180000_WIS45CT_0006579925.gif Everything in yellow and green will be especially susceptible to destruction from high seas and the arrows showing the movement and speed of the ice indicate that the ice that does survive will be packed up along the Canadian archipelago or pushed into Mclure Straight. Rarely have I seen double digits for NM movement of the ice on these charts and I don't recall ever seeing 15 NM.

I think there may be a calving disintegration event goint on on the East side of Greenland right now. If you look at the Modis subset that includes 79 North and Zachariae and then move from those two Southwest along the inland channel you will reach a point where the termini of two glaciers meet--Storstrommen from the North and L. Bistrup Brae from the South. The meeting point is just SSW of an oval Island surrounded by Storstrommen. Just to the SE of the termini is Borgfjorden. A week ago Borgfjorden was mostly open water, but now it's filled up with a stream of frothy looking ice coming from the termini. I think it's primarily a portion of the terminus of Storstrommen that is disintegrating as it too has a disrupted look to it's surface. Here's how it looked on 7-30 http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2012212.terra.250m Here's how the termini looked two years ago http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2010235.terra.250m

It is a rather small corner, but the fast ice along the NE Greenland coast looks like it's ready to completely fracture. It doesn't always do this and when it does, it tends to be much later and the ice doesn't clear out or melt before refreezing sets in. This year could be different. http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=Arctic_r02c03.2012210.terra.250m