Sea Ice

If the weather keeps up the way it's been, 2011 very well could prove to be another record low year for sea ice in the Arctic. The big annual thaw is well underway in high-pressure conditions that are very similar to 2007; when climate researchers recorded the lowest ever level of summer sea ice. “That is a pattern that we know tends to melt a lot of ice. It’s very warm,” said Mark Serreze, Director of the National Snow and Ice Data...

In places where the air gets cold enough to freeze seawater, sea ice creates a world known by few people, a shifting, ephemeral, both jagged and smooth platform of white that clings to the shore for much of the year. In Barrow, people who hunt whales start packing down snowmachine trails over this blue-white dreamscape in March. The trails allow a few dozen crews to pursue and hopefully winch home a few bowhead whales in April and May. Like most college students, Matt Druckenmiller did not know much about sea ice when he began his degree program.

The National Weather Service warned that sea ice could close off Point Barrow as early as Friday. The storm moving over the eastern Bering Sea and Western Alaska will track northeast and move a front east of Point Barrow on late Friday or early Saturday. Sea ice following the front will move quickly into the Barrow area and close Point Barrow to marine traffic. NWS said mariners attempting to transit between the Chuckchi and Beaufort seas should make preparations for changing ice conditions.

On Sunday, NASA released a satellite image of the sea ice in Southwestern Alaska in mid-January. The image was taken on Jan. 15 from NASA's Aqua satellite and shows the challenge the Coast Guard cutter Healy and the Russian tanker Renda faced in the iced-in community of Nome. The tanker finished offloading an estimated 1.3 million gallons of fuel last week and left Nome over the weekend. To view a large image of the satellite map, click here (3 MB, JPEG, 4800x3600)

In order to study the effects of reduced sea ice conditions on the pacific walrus population of northwestern Alaska, researchers will attempt to tag 35 walruses with satellite transmitters this month. The ongoing study is being conducted by the USGS Alaska Science Center, in cooperation with the Native Village of Point Lay. Walruses spend most of their lives at sea and often rest on shelves of sea ice, but with sea ice receding away from the land and into the deep ocean, the walruses will haul themselves on to beaches in Alaska and Russia.

Sea ice is being moved across the Bering Sea more quickly than anticipated by strong winds and cold temperatures, and it's making snow crab fishermen nervous. Forecasters expect the ice to cover the crabbing grounds any day.  "We do expect it to reach much of the edge of the shelf, over this weekend," said Kathleen Cole, the Sea Ice Program leader for the National Weather Service. The NWS is fielding dozens of phone calls a day from crab fishermen, who are looking for an update on where the sea ice is at. "Most people are picking their pots up and getting them out of harm's way," said Jim Stone, president of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

A new study shows there's hope for polar bears in a warming world. The Polar Bears International study suggests that if the world dramatically changes its greenhouse gas emissions, a total loss of the bears’ critical summer sea ice could be averted. Another research group projects that even if global warming doesn't slow, a thin, icy refuge for the bears would still remain between Greenland and Canada. Four years ago, researchers reported two-thirds of the world's polar bear habitat could vanish by mid-century.

  The Russian Icebreaker, Renda, has crossed the stormy, wind-tossed waters of the Aleutians and has begun to cross the sea ice on its historic voyage to Nome. Vitus Marine LLC, the company that contracted the Renda to deliver more than a million gallons of fuel to Nome, says the Renda was 25 nautical miles southwest of Nunivak Island  at about 9:30 this morning -- and is making way through the southernmost ice at 8 knots. The Renda was hired after huge storms in the Bering Sea kept a barge company from delivering Nome's winter supply of fuel.  From dealing with several foreign governments and a number of regulatory hurdles, the Renda's journey hasn't been an easy one. The ship just cleared one last major hurdle.

Heavy sea ice will significantly delay Shell Oil's planned offshore drilling operations this summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Shell is saying that sea ice coverage in the Bering Sea is 30 to 40 percent above normal, the worst it's been in 12 years. Ice coverage is also above normal in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. That means that the first Arctic Ocean drilling off America's shores in a generation will be delayed by two to three weeks -- a major setback since the summer drilling season in Arctic waters is so short.

Satellite images show Arctic sea ice in July reached its lowest level since 1979, according to researchers at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. "What we are seeing here is certainly the sea ice cover is responding to climate change, the Arctic is getting warmer and the sea ice is responding to that," Director Mark Serreze said during a phone interview. The previous record low for July was 2007. That year went on to be the lowest year on record, and analysts say this year could break that record.

NASA says "after a record melt season, an Arctic cyclone, and a fascinating fracturing event, Arctic sea ice has reached its maximum extent for the year. Contact Neil Torquiano

Kotzebue police say a 7-year-old local boy last seen Saturday was found dead, pinned by ice against a sea wall, hours after he was reported missing Sunday afternoon. According to a Wednesday statement from the Kotzebue Police Department, Suyuk Brown was last seen playing in front of his Shore Avenue home at 3 p.m. Saturday during a snowmachine race. His family reported him missing a day later, at about 4:40 p.m. Sunday. Members of Kotzebue Search and Rescue, as well as the local fire and police departments, conducted a search for Brown until his body was located just after 11 p.m. Sunday.

The National Weather Service warned that sea ice could close off Point Barrow as early as Friday. The storm moving over the eastern Bering Sea and Western Alaska will track northeast and move a front east of Point Barrow on late Friday or early Saturday. Sea ice following the front will move quickly into the Barrow area and close Point Barrow to marine traffic. NWS said mariners attempting to transit between the Chuckchi and Beaufort seas should make preparations for changing ice conditions.

Heavy sea ice will significantly delay Shell Oil's planned offshore drilling operations this summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Shell is saying that sea ice coverage in the Bering Sea is 30 to 40 percent above normal, the worst it's been in 12 years. Ice coverage is also above normal in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. That means that the first Arctic Ocean drilling off America's shores in a generation will be delayed by two to three weeks -- a major setback since the summer drilling season in Arctic waters is so short.

On Sunday, the Vice President of Shell Oil in Alaska told Governor Sean Parnell (R-Alaska) and Senator Lisa Murkowski(R-Alaska) that heavy sea ice in the Bering Straight will delay historic drilling operations -- scheduled for this summer.    Those operations will encompass the first exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean -- off of Alaska's Coast -- in 20 years. (In 2003, there was some exploratory drilling on what are called "Gravel Islands" off of Alaska's Coast, but those operations are not comparable in scale to this one.    That word came as Parnell and Murkowski toured two massive drilling rings, The Kulluk and "Noble Discoverer".    They will spend the short summer drilling season searching for what are believed to be massive oil deposits in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.    In fact, if estimates by theU.S.

Sea ice is being moved across the Bering Sea more quickly than anticipated by strong winds and cold temperatures, and it's making snow crab fishermen nervous. Forecasters expect the ice to cover the crabbing grounds any day.  "We do expect it to reach much of the edge of the shelf, over this weekend," said Kathleen Cole, the Sea Ice Program leader for the National Weather Service. The NWS is fielding dozens of phone calls a day from crab fishermen, who are looking for an update on where the sea ice is at. "Most people are picking their pots up and getting them out of harm's way," said Jim Stone, president of Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers.

On Sunday, NASA released a satellite image of the sea ice in Southwestern Alaska in mid-January. The image was taken on Jan. 15 from NASA's Aqua satellite and shows the challenge the Coast Guard cutter Healy and the Russian tanker Renda faced in the iced-in community of Nome. The tanker finished offloading an estimated 1.3 million gallons of fuel last week and left Nome over the weekend. To view a large image of the satellite map, click here (3 MB, JPEG, 4800x3600)

After a disappointing day yesterday, the Russian tanker and its U.S. Coast Guard escort tackle the sea ice again today. The Renda and the Healy still have about 95 miles of sea ice to cross before reaching Nome.  It's been eight days and about 600 nautical miles, since the two ships left Dutch Harbor for Nome on Jan. 3 -- on a mission to deliver more than a million gallons of fuel to Nome, fuel that failed to arrive on a barge last...

The Russian tanker Renda continues to make headway on its journey to deliver more than 1 million gallons of petroleum products to Nome, after the iced-in port missed a fuel delivery in November. After a break overnight Monday, the Renda and its escort, the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, resumed operations at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning. Vitus Marine LLC, the company that's coordinating the fuel delivery to Nome, says the two ships traveled 53 miles through sea ice Monday, with about 100 miles of ice left to navigate.   Stacey Smith with Vitus Marine says that temperatures are warming up somewhat and are now ranging from 15 degrees below to 20 degrees below, with winds forecast to die down starting Tuesday.

  The Russian Icebreaker, Renda, has crossed the stormy, wind-tossed waters of the Aleutians and has begun to cross the sea ice on its historic voyage to Nome. Vitus Marine LLC, the company that contracted the Renda to deliver more than a million gallons of fuel to Nome, says the Renda was 25 nautical miles southwest of Nunivak Island  at about 9:30 this morning -- and is making way through the southernmost ice at 8 knots. The Renda was hired after huge storms in the Bering Sea kept a barge company from delivering Nome's winter supply of fuel.  From dealing with several foreign governments and a number of regulatory hurdles, the Renda's journey hasn't been an easy one. The ship just cleared one last major hurdle.