This is most definitely smoke haze near the pole. That brownish layer is unmistakable to an Aussie http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/NPEO2015/2015cam2_1.jpg

@Jim, it sounds better when you say 'north pole' hehehe and it's not an alien, it's SANTA!

There are paw prints at the north pole. I know the image will change but they were there when I last looked :) http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/NPEO2015/2015cam2_1.jpg

@Colorado Bob I was just about to post that link :) Prodigious melting this year, and I think with the pack melt, both combined stats will make a truly remarkable year.

Lots of new melt ponds over the last few days Esp for buoys 10,11 and 12 http://obuoy.datatransport.org/monitor#buoy12/camera And like Susan I've been watching the huge swirls in the Pacific sending warm air north and cold air out seemingly pushed out the other side ( so to speak :) I think melting will be pretty significant this year, maybe not a record but worryingly close.

Now this is interesting http://www.dmi.dk/fileadmin/SatelliteArctic/Lincoln/20150319TERR.jpg

I'm pretty sure the 'dad' was a typo for 'sad' but anyway...

Excellent update, thank you Neven. Everyone must be on the forum...If I go there time seems to fall into a black hole and no work gets done hahaha

Lots of movement on land to worry about, old ice on the move. http://www.dmi.dk/fileadmin/SatelliteArctic/Joekelbugt/20140820AQUA.jpg

@Ostepop, if I had the money that would be an awesome cruise, stuck or not :)

@Ostepop The current wind pattern, carrying large amounts of smoke, is not being kind to your prediction. I hope the link shows you what I'm seeing http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/overlay=temp/orthographic=-46.75,75.76,512

That's a lot of dark matter :(

Speaking of smoke and soot, the latest sat pics from west coast Greenland are looking a little dark. Is that what I think it is? http://www.dmi.dk/fileadmin/SatelliteArctic/Disko/20140723TERR.jpg

I agree @George I think a big melt is on the cards. Lots of warm air, currents are right to impact outlying ice, around the entire Arctic. The highs and lows are feeding in relatively warm air ( at all levels by the looks of things ). The next week will be important. The push ( wind/currents) ATM is dividing the remaining ice into two halves. Both halves are being eroded on the coasts and I do believe soon from within the pack.

I wonder which will come first Climate change killing millions each year or The lack of viable antibiotics killing millions each year ah, choices choices so many choices

Super Typhoon Haiyan dispersed an awful lot of heat very quickly. Typhoons/cyclones are the only very fast way of moving heat between ocean, land and atmosphere aren't they?

My gut feeling is that PIOMAS is going to bottom out earlier than usual this year. Northern ocean areas are very warm, the ice is weak and vulnerable. There's been a significant increase in pollution carried from continental Asia up north and the jet stream is wobbling :(

Yes, I'm eating crow pie :) I sort of wish it wasn't so. I honestly don't think anything positive will happen until the first ice free summer and then people will notice. I know it will be too late but maybe regulation then will seem like a good idea. It's getting cold up there, it will be a big year extend wise but it really is like watching a goldfish's last gasps as it lays on the shag-pile carpet.

Neven, you are so right. The Arctic needs more remote sensing, more on-site resources. What it needs is a billionaire! Forget politics, the arctic needs a benefactor. Forget trying to change world opinion; all this needs is someone with the right connections to get science done. Musk, Gates, Buffett whoever... Your blog is going global, use this new influence...what do you think?

@ Dan - and the media agenda is dictated by the Murdoch press - we only have 1 national newspaper, and it's Murdoch's! OK, yes he does own newspapers but more and more the average person doesn't use newspapers 100% of the time, it's social media that is more important ( Twitter, facebook, blogs etc ) and you might want to read this article because Murdoch is out of touch and thus not very effective at shifting the debate either politically or socially http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-12/chen-media-influence-in-election-campaigns/4879730

@Bob Hmm, as an Aussie I'd say you're wrong on so many levels it's not funny, and as a contributor to this blog I'd say very little of what you know is true. Australia sells coal and yes we use it. But we also have a carbon tax ( which will be a trading scheme if Labor gets in and nothing if the Libs get in ). Pray for a Rudd government Murdoch owns some of the press, but his influence is actually quite small in Aust. I think you're thinking of the US, which is the media he IS trying to influence. Climate change in Australia is not wholly bad. Many areas in the north will become better at food production ie northern NT and central QLD. I think we are also prepared to change agricultural practises far more than other countries. For example our cotton farmers are moving to hemp. Our solar industry is strong and will get better. We have government schemes for solar panels and very good prices when households feed back into the grid. Australia is certainly not the most vulnerable country. You might be thinking of Bangladesh, or the islands in the Pacific, or even central US ( which relies on the tropical wave from Africa being stable and persistent ). So no, we have faced the truth and are probably better poised than most countries to spend money on solutions. We didn't collapse during the GFC if you recall.

@Gerhard "In August is the time of basal melt" Is that trend due to SST?

The ice is behaving like mushed up flotsam! A think the ice will continue to melt past the normal time we think and these storms will just keep cropping up.

What happens to the ice when the smoke from all the fires in Russia gets added to the mix? EOSDIS Worldview is showing a strong feeder band from Russia and it will get sucked into the storm, over very thin ice.

I had a quick look at the SST anomaly figures at Wunderground. Very high anomaly around GL http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/