Which was perhaps mere coincidence, since I can apparently suddenly log in as myself once again :) Anyone for a sudden stratospheric warming and a split polar vortex? https://twitter.com/FrenchScotPilot/status/1081880298617491456

Hooray! I can comment again at long last, after a not so brief hiatus. Logged in using Typepad credentials on this occasion. Now where were we?

Hi Wayne, One sailboat seems to have made it safely through the CAA this year. The aptly named Thor? http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/the-northwest-passage-in-2018/#Sep-07 He's just made it safely into Alaskan waters:

For GAC fans everywhere, I reckon this is as close as you're going to get for the foreseeable future: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/the-great-arctic-cyclone-of-2018/#Sep-05 However there are still several significant swells sloshing around north of Russia.

John - Does this count as "extreme weather"? http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/the-great-arctic-cyclone-of-2018/ All the seas between Greenland and the New Siberian Islands are awash with swells with a period of 8 second or greater. This is most unusual, to put it mildly!

Since you ask. Possibly there'll be some significant swell! http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/the-great-arctic-cyclone-of-2018/ Here's the current Arctic big wave forecast for August 31st:

Hi Wayne, "It was actually a cool summer" FYI "Snow" has been indulging in some idle banter with Judah Cohen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GreatWhiteCon/status/1031996075002003456 According to Judah: I didn't realize that someone was running Andrew [Slater]'s sea ice model, I know that he was very proud of it and it looks like for good reason. I can see an early end to the sea ice melt season. The mostly positive AO seems to have helped retard sea ice melt this summer.

"Snow White" posted much the same story on Twitter, as a result of which she has attracted quite a lot of scientific "likes" and skeptical "foolishness". Ruth Mottram commented on Neven's original article: Hah, interesting! Neven is pretty well spot on in his analysis here I think - one thing not picked up on and which reinforces view that winds are crucial is Kap Morris Jesup recorded a new record high temperature 3rd August of 17.4C in similar føhn wind. "Snow" begged to differ!

With a set of reasonably clear MODIS images in the bag "Snow White" is proud to present "her" own musings on assorted Arctic circumnavigations: Could Northabout Circumnavigate Greenland in 2018? If she put her mind to it could Northabout circumnavigate Greenland in 2018? Here's another thought to ponder as well. I don't suppose it's in the Alfred Wegener Institute's PS115 mission plan, but do you suppose Polarstern could circumnavigate Greenland at the moment?

Presumably Eli/Ethon was thinking of the contrast between how thick the ice must have been then and how thin it is now?

It's certainly exciting times in the Northwest Passage at the moment Wayne! Did you by any chance spot Amundsen recently? Rather later than last year, "Snow White's" detailed analysis of the Northwest Passage prospects for the small yachts endeavouring to sail (or more likely motor) through the Northwest Passage this summer: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/the-northwest-passage-in-2018/ The central section between Bellot Strait and Gjoa Haven and/or Cambridge Bay is still chock a block..... Meanwhile the Canadian icebreaker CCGS Amundsen has sailed past Arctic Bay and Resolute. I cannot help but wonder what vessels might be closely following in his wake?

Sorry John - I guess my bone dry Anglo Saxon humour partly passed you by? It was not my intent to place you in the (un)RealClimateScience box. I was however intending to imply that I personally don't have a lot of faith in those particular DMI thickness maps.

Thanks for your kind words John! Helen also commented on August 11th: https://twitter.com/helenczerski/status/1028386714203705344 We weren't really aiming for the pole, just to find a good ice floe as far north as possible. But we haven't found an ice floe yet and it looks as though I'll wake up tomorrow morning at the North Pole. And please don't get me started on those DMI "thickness" maps! A certain Mr. "Goddard" is flashing those around with gay abandon at the moment, together with the resurfaced "submarine" meme: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/uss-skate-at-the-north-pole-truth-and-fiction/ 'Nuff said?

Great minds think alike Neven! Or should that be fools seldom differ? Snow White is working on a similar article as we speak, albeit "her" title includes the word "Northabout". Meanwhile Snow and I are pleased to be able to reveal that Great British physicist and oceanographer (and BBC TV star!) Helen Czerski recently reached the North Pole aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/08/oden-reaches-the-north-pole-all-too-easily-once-again/

Neven is no doubt working on a new post even as we speak, but Wipneus has already crunched the March PIOMAS gridded thickness numbers: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/04/facts-about-the-arctic-in-april-2018/

It has been reported in certain quarters that some submarines have recently become "stuck in the Arctic ice". Needless to say the truth of the matter is rather different: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/04/hms-trenchant-surfaces-at-the-icex-2018-ice-camp/

Wayne - What was the CRREL web site hasn't been updated in ages, so there's no news on the design of the new buoy as yet. I guess I could ask Don? Meanwhile, although it doesn't sound as though there'll be an IMB buoy installed near the North Pole this year, the first news has finally started flowing from the Barneo Ice Camp 2018 edition: https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,2290.0.html

Hi Wayne - Whilst not directly relevant to the Bering Sea of course, you might be interested in this snippet of information? I've just received this note from Don Perovich regarding Arctic IMB buoys this season: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/resources/ice-mass-balance-buoys/summer-2018-imb-buoys/ We developed the next generation of our seasonal ice mass balance buoy and are deploying them. The new buoys have a number of improvements including a customized controller board. They also have a new format for the datastream, which means rewriting our data processing software. The plan is to finish the software revisions by June, so that the web site automatically gets updated. We do have some deployment plans for this year. 1. Beaufort Sea – deployed last week. 2. Just north of Prudhoe Bay – deployed on Monday 3. Two deployed in Beaufort Sea in conjunction with WARM buoy – to be deployed later this week. 4. Three in Eastern Arctic – to be deployed in September 5. Two in Beaufort Sea – to be deployed in September.

Apart from extent it's useful to also take a look at Arctic sea ice thickness at this time of year: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/03/the-2018-maximum-arctic-sea-ice-extent/ [The thickness maps] reveal large areas of relatively thin sea ice in the Okhotsk and Barents Seas where the ice can now be expected to melt as quickly as it formed. There is also remarkably little sea ice in the Bering Sea for the time of year. P.S. The 2018 NASA Operation IceBridge campaign has just started: https://forum.arctic-sea-ice.net/index.php/topic,2282.0.html

Al - The raw AMSR2 data comes from JAXA, but the University of Hamburg process it differently to the Japanese National Institute of Polar Research when calculating sea ice concentration. The former uses the "ARTIST sea ice" algorithm (ASI for short). The latter is commonly referred to as "JAXA extent", and uses the NASA "bootstrap" algorithm.

AMSR2 derived Arctic sea ice extent is still decreasing following the recent cyclone: However Arctic sea ice area has started to increase once again: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/facts-about-the-arctic-in-february-2018/#Feb-10 Meanwhile global sea ice extent is most certainly in "lowest in the satellite era" territory:

Thanks for the mention Neven. Here's the latest post cyclone AMSR2 sea ice concentration map: plus a sea ice drift animation: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/the-february-2018-fram-strait-cyclones/#Feb-08

The recent cyclone has duly done its battering. Click on the animation at: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/the-february-2018-fram-strait-cyclones/#Feb-07 To summarise:

Rain is forecast for Svalbard once again, as are giant waves in the Fram Strait: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/the-february-2018-fram-strait-cyclones/ The sea ice on the Arctic is in for a bit of a battering tomorrow, and for some time to come too!

The official PIOMAS January data have not yet been released, but Wipneus has worked his usual magic on the gridded thickness numbers: http://GreatWhiteCon.info/2018/02/facts-about-the-arctic-in-february-2018/ Estimated from the thickness data, the latest value is from 31st of January: 17.57 [1000 km3], which is the second lowest value for that day, 2017 is lowest by a rather large margin at 16.16 [1000 km3].