Updated/Edited 7/01/11
NOTE: I corrected the title; you may need to update your bookmark.
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Tracking the Fram Strait sea ice is proving. Closer to the coast of Greenland the ice is moving northward, further east it is moving southwest and where the two meet apparently anything can happen. Additionally, the floes change in size and shape rapidly at times, so from day to day it's a bit of now you see it, now you don't. It's been very cloudy since the 27th of July with the result being I've lost track of, or still can't see because of the clouds, almost all the floes I'd numbered. Cryosphere Today has a 42 day loop I like. Their high color loop is here.
The Fram Strait is second only to ice melt in the loss of ice from the Arctic Ocean. In terms of old, thick multi-year ice, it plays a vital role. Ice is lost via the Fram Strait because ocean water flows basically from the Pacific through the Arctic and then out into the Atlantic. This is simplified, but essentially correct.
The Strait is the deepest point through which sea ice can escape into the Atlantic. Looking at an image of the Fram Strait and not knowing the ice you see there in the melt season is moving, not standing still, you would think the ice there hardly melts in the summer. The reality is, it's a conveyor belt of sea ice flowing out of the Arctic Ocean.
The Fram Strait is second only to ice melt in the loss of ice from the Arctic Ocean. In terms of old, thick multi-year ice, it plays a vital role. Ice is lost via the Fram Strait because ocean water flows basically from the Pacific through the Arctic and then out into the Atlantic. This is simplified, but essentially correct.
The Strait is the deepest point through which sea ice can escape into the Atlantic. Looking at an image of the Fram Strait and not knowing the ice you see there in the melt season is moving, not standing still, you would think the ice there hardly melts in the summer. The reality is, it's a conveyor belt of sea ice flowing out of the Arctic Ocean.
