Near St. Lawrence Island
Sea ice continues to melt rapidly in the northern Being Sea. However, there are remnants of shorefast ice along the north shore of St. Lawrence Island between Gambell and Savoonga. There is a large concentration of pack ice offshore of the shorefast ice just east of Savoonga extending northward about 20 miles. 5-7 tenths of sea ice present east and southeast of the Island consists of mixed floes. "Last ice" is now drifting in bands from the Gulf of Anadyr northeastward toward the Bering Strait. A major band of this sea ice is about 20 miles northwest of Gambell...
Near St. Lawrence Island
High pressure continues to persist over the northern Chukchi Sea, producing consistent northerly winds. The northerly winds have pushed some of the ice pack down on the north shore of St. Lawrence Island, west of Savoonga. Otherwise, except for some narrow shorefast ice along some of the shores, the waters northwest, west, and south of St. Lawrence Island are open with widely scattered small floes still present. The major ice pack still exists east and southeast of St. Lawrence Island where there is a mix of floe types and sizes. The open waters around St...
Near St. Lawrence Island
There is now open water south and west of St. Lawrence Island. There is a band of ice floes west of Gambell that extends southwest to northeast about 15 miles offshore. Floe size varies from 3/4 mile in diameter to very small floes. The floes are mostly broken. "Last ice" still remains in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Anadyr.
Wales to Shishmaref
Northerly winds continue to persist, pushing the ice pack down against the shorefast ice that is still in place across the northwest shore of the Seward Peninsula. A narrow strip of shorefast ice...
Near St. Lawrence Island
Northerly winds are continuing to persist well into May. These winds are keeping a lot of the ice south of the Bering Strait, especially east of St. Lawrence Island where ice concentration is 50-70%. North and west of St. Lawrence there are large expanses of open water and new, young ice with numerous, mixed-size, individual, heavier ice floes in long bands. South of St. Lawrence there is 30-50% concentration of ice extending over 60 miles south. There are still some narrow bands of shorefast ice along the southern shore of the island.
Wales to Shishmaref...
View Full ReportNear Saint Lawrence Island
Northerly winds have continued to push ice south of the Bering Strait and to the east of Saint Lawrence Island. This ice was also packing up over the eastern half of the island. There has been enough of an easterly component recently to allow for the sea ice to move westward around Saint Lawrence Island. As a result, ice concentrations northwest of Savoonga and north of Gambell are relatively low. Also, the general flow of ice has not been northward to the south and west of Saint Lawrence Island. Waters were somewhat open on the west side of Saint Lawrence...
Near Saint Lawrence Island
Persistent northeast winds through April 28th continued to push large floes south into Saint Lawrence Island, especially around and to the east of Savoonga. These winds have also kept concentrations of the large floes 10-25 miles west of Saint Lawrence Island and more than 40 miles to the south of Saint Lawrence Island. The sea ice was generally drifting south through the 28th. Westerly winds on the 29th modified the flow slightly, but this change will be brief. Closer to shore, new ice continued to reform in the polynyas, however, satellite imagery indicates...
View Full ReportWales to Shishmaref
The storms of early to mid April significantly reduced the shorefast ice near Wales. The ice edge continues to erode slowly. There is open water along the shorefast ice. Further offshore of the shorefast ice and open water there is a lot of new, young ice extending out to 10 miles or more. Clouds cover the ice north of Shishmaref, but breaks in the clouds indicate that the shorefast ice is heavily fractured and has many leads, and that strong southerly winds could break down this ice very rapidly the next time they occur. At present, the northerly winds have pushed the...
View Full ReportNear Gambell
The change in the weather pattern over the last week has resulted in very little shorefast ice present around Saint Lawrence Island. Another significant change noted is on the southwest and south sides of Saint Lawrence Island where southerly winds brought older ice in high concentrations within 10 miles of shore. Meanwhile, ice concentrations have thinned on the north side of Saint Lawrence Island. Young ice was prevalent near Gambell to more than 20 miles west and north of Gambell. Satellite indicated less new ice and more open water from west of Gambell to north of...
Wales to Shishmaref
The presence of shorefast ice continues to extend from Wales to Shishmaref. However, the offshore edge of the shorefast ice north of Wales, near Cape Prince of Wales, is eroding slowly. Shorefast offshore of Wales continues to be about 1-2 miles wide with open water along the edge. Further offshore of Wales there is extensive new and young ice with many open water leads and scattered small floes extending more than 30 miles. This area was caused by the generally persistent northerly winds that pushed the heavier concentration of sea ice southward toward St. Lawrence...
Wales to Shishmaref
Shorefast continues to extend from Wales to Shishmaref 20-40 miles offshore along the coast. Just south of Wales the shorefast ice is now only 1-2 miles wide. There is open water along the edge of the shorefast ice. Large ice floes continue to drift northward through Bering Strait. Ice concentration is over 70%. Satellite imagery indicates the presence of new and young ice forming between floes, in parts of open water areas, and just offshore of the shorefast lead.
Near St. Lawrence Island
Shorefast ice continues to persist along the north shore of St...