Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook Archive

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows a large polynya along the southern and western coastline of St. Lawrence Island, stretching 25 to 150 miles beyond the shoreline. Grease ice covers parts of the polynya, mainly forming overnight and melting during the day. Open pack ice composed of small to vast floes lies off the northern coastline beyond the shorefast ice extent with new and young sea ice in between the floes. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline of the island extends roughly 1 to 4 miles, while the shorefast ice along the southern coastline is mainly limited...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows a large polynya along the southern and western coastline of St. Lawrence Island, stretching 30 to 150 miles beyond the shoreline. Grease ice and strips of young ice cover parts of the polynya. Open pack ice composed of small to vast floes lies off the northern coastline beyond the shorefast ice extent with new and young sea ice in between the floes. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline of the island extends roughly 1 to 12 miles, while the shorefast ice along the southern coastline is mainly limited to the lagoons.

Wales...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows that the polynya along the southern coastline of St. Lawrence Island has frozen over with new and young sea ice in an area stretching 20 to 50 miles beyond the shoreline. Close pack ice composed of small to vast floes lies off the northwestern coast of Gambell to Savoonga with new and young sea ice in between the floes. Along the northern coast east of Savoonga lies very close pack ice composed of medium to vast floes. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline of the island extends roughly 2 to 15 miles, while the shorefast ice...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows that the polynya along the southern coastline of St. Lawrence Island has frozen over with new and young sea ice in an area stretching 20 to 50 miles beyond the shoreline. Close pack ice composed of small to vast floes lies off the northwestern coast of Gambell to Savoonga with new and young sea ice in between the floes. Along the northern coast east of Savoonga lies very close pack ice composed of medium to vast floes. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline of the island extends roughly 2 to 15 miles, while the shorefast ice...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows a polynya along the southern coastline of St. Lawrence Island with a width of 5 to 40 miles. Close pack ice composed of medium to vast floes lies off Gambell’s western coast with new and young sea ice in between the floes. Beyond the shorefast ice along the northern coastline lies very close pack ice composed of medium to vast floes with high concentrations of young ice between the floes. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline of the island extends roughly 5 to 13 miles, while the shorefast ice along the southern coastline is...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows close pack ice in medium to vast floes surrounding St. Lawrence Island, with high concentrations of new and young sea ice filling in between the floes. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline of the island extends roughly 7 to 13 miles, while the shorefast ice along the southern coastline is mainly limited to the lagoons.

Wales to Shishmaref

Beyond the shorefast ice from Shishmaref up to Kotzebue Sound lies a large polynya 5 to 15 miles wide that has frozen over with new and young sea ice. The shorefast ice extent along...

Near St. Lawrence Island

St. Lawrence Island is completely sea ice free with the open water edge located roughly 70 miles to the north of the island.

Wales to Shishmaref

The seasonal melt has continued in the southern Chukchi Sea this past week. The Bering Strait and southern Chukchi Sea up to roughly 69.5 degrees north are mainly open water. No shorefast ice remains along the coastline from Wales to Shishmaref. The ice remaining consists of open to very open pack ice stretching up to 15 miles off the coastline. Bays and waters within the barrier islands are open water.

5 to...

Near St. Lawrence Island

The coastline of St. Lawrence Island is now sea ice free, with large areas of open water surrounding the island in the northern Bering Sea. A strip of sea ice is located to the west of the island and is continuing to melt. There are also a few strips of sea ice remaining northwest of the island that are rapidly melting.

Wales to Shishmaref

The seasonal melt in the southern Chukchi Sea has continued this past week. The Bering Strait and southern Chukchi Sea up to roughly 68.5 degrees north are mainly open water with very open to open pack ice...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Over the past week the St. Lawrence Island area has experienced a major seasonal melt of the ice pack near the island. The ice remaining within shallow bays and inlets is no longer shorefast and is melting rapidly. Open water to very open pack ice lies to the north of the island and a roughly 5 to 8 mile wide belt of ice is floating near the southern coastline with open water beyond. Other belts of sea ice are rapidly melting and drifting within the northern Bering Sea as well.

Wales to Shishmaref

The southern Chukchi Sea has also experienced a...

Near St. Lawrence Island

A large polyna along the southern coastline of St. Lawrence Island stretches up to 45 miles wide, but is filling in and will continue to do so this week with southerly winds. Close pack ice lies in the region beyond the polyna consisting of young, first year, and new sea ice. The close pack ice along the northern coastline of the island is drifting offshore due to the southerly winds and has opened a polyna. Much of the northern Bering Sea is open water or very open pack ice. Shorefast ice is continuing to become unstable and is breaking off.

Wales to...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Close pack ice has consolidated along most of the northern coastline of St. Lawrence Island stretching 10 to 25 miles offshore. Beyond the pack ice lies an area of very open to open pack ice. Northerly flow has opened a polyna along the southern coastline of the island stretching 5 to 20 miles wide. Beyond the polyna lies a region of close pack ice. Shorefast ice is continuing to become further unstable.

Wales to Shishmaref

A polyna has opened off the west coast near Wales. Very close pack ice remains in much of the southern Chukchi Sea and is mobile...

Near St. Lawrence Island

A large polyna is open along the entire northern coastline of St. Lawrence Island, stretching from 5 to 15 miles wide near Gambell up to 25 miles wide near Savoonga. Beyond the polyna lies an area of close pack ice. The shorefast ice along the northern coastline is continuing to become more unstable. Southerly flow has consolidated the ice pack along the southern side of the island and closed most leads.

Wales to Shishmaref

Open water to very open pack is present from the western third of the Bering Strait stretching up into the southern Chukchi Sea...

Near St. Lawrence Island

A polyna remains along the northern coastline of St. Lawrence Island stretching from 3 to 9 miles in width. Beyond the northern coastline polyna is an area of close pack ice consisting of first year medium to new sea ice. Off to the east of the island is a large area of very open pack ice. The southern coastline of the island has filled in with close pack ice with the exception of the area from near Powooiliak Camp to near Silook Camp where a polyna has opened with a width of 2 to 15 miles.

Wales to Shishmaref

Open to very open pack ice is present...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Persistent southwesterly flow near St. Lawrence Island allowed close pack ice to fill in the polyna that was present along the southern coastline of the island last week. The southwesterly flow has also opened a polyna beyond the shorefast ice off the northern coastline stretching from just east of Gambell over to the eastern side of the island as seen in satellite imagery. The polyna is roughly 5 miles wide near Savoonga and up to 25 miles wide near Lietnik along the northeastern coast of the island. Beyond the polyna lies a region of close pack ice.

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Near St. Lawrence Island

Persistent northerly flow near St. Lawrence Island has allowed compact pack ice to close in along the northern coastline, extending 25 to 35 miles from the shoreline. Beyond the compact pack ice to the north and northwest lies a large region of open pack ice stretching to the Russian coastline up to the north near the Bering Strait. Shorefast ice remains within the barrier islands along the southern shoreline of St. Lawrence Island with a large polyna extending up to 80 miles to the south. Low concentrations of new ice may be forming within the polyna due to the...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Cloud cover has been persistent over the Bering Strait region this week, providing a somewhat limited view of the sea ice near St. Lawrence, as seen in the false color image of the NASA MODIS satellite this week (pink colors highlighting clouds, bright blue highlighting sea ice). Minimal shorefast ice remains between Gambell and Savoonga and a polyna has formed off the northern coast between these two villages up to 10 miles wide. Beyond the northern coastline a polyna lies close first year pack ice. Shorefast ice remains within the barrier islands along the...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Shorefast ice between Gambell and Savoonga has broken off and can be seen on satellite images, in the ice pack north of Saint Lawrence Island. Stable shorefast ice along the northeast coast is limited to within 5 miles from the shoreline. The shorefast ice extending beyond this appears to thinning with breaks clearly visible along the outer edge. The remaining shorefast ice around the island extends 2 to 5 miles in most locations and appears stable along east and west facing coasts. Free-floating ice is most concentrated to the east of the island. Lower...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows the extensive sea ice surrounding St. Lawrence Island. Very close pack ice consisting of first year thin to first year thick ice has consolidated along the northern coastline of the island. It is likely that the ice in this offshore region has formed ridges while buckling due to the wind stress. It may be grounded in some locations. A narrow polyna, 4 to 7 miles wide, is present along the southern shoreline of the island, however due to the very cold temperatures areas of open water are refreezing rapidly with new and young ice forming...

Near St. Lawrence Island

The bay between Gambell and Savoonga has been compacted with first year thin to first year thick ice that has likely grounded in several locations. From Savoonga over to the eastern side of the island lies very close pack ice consisting of first year thin to first year thick ice. Beyond the shorefast ice from Gambell down the western side of the island lies a polyna (an area of open water surrounded by sea ice) up to 21 miles wide. Close pack ice lies beyond the polyna with new and young ice filling in between the floes. A polyna is also present beyond the...

Near St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery clearly shows the impacts of persistent northerly flow in the Bering Strait region this past week. Beyond the shorefast ice on northern coastline lies a highly consolidated region of pack ice that has most likely formed ridges as the first year thin to first year thick ice buckles under the wind stress. Northwesterly flow off the coast of eastern Siberia has formed a polynya stretching from beyond the shorefast ice of the Siberian coastline down to the western coast of St. Lawrence Island. A large polynya stretching up to 80 nm wide has formed...

St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows extensive sea ice surrounding St. Lawrence Island, however the shorefast sea ice area is limited this year compared with the shorefast sea ice extent in early April of 2012 and 2010. Northerly winds have closed in the polynya beyond the northern coastline shorefast ice edge with large floes of tightly packed sea ice. Off the northwest coast near Gambell lies a region of numerous thick broken floes with high concentrations of young and new ice filling in between the floes. Northerly flow has also opened the polynya off the southern and...

St. Lawrence Island

Major changes are occurring in the dispersion and melting of sea ice in the Bering Sea. The satellite imagery (below) shows that there are strips of sea ice south and west of St. Lawrence Island that extend back west to the Gulf of Anadyr. Less than 25% of the ice remains in the Gulf of Anadyr, and most of this is in the northwest corner of the bay. There are more strips of sea ice just northwest of St. Lawrence Island that are slowly drifting northward. Most of this ice is more than 25 miles offshore. There are still remnants of shorefast ice along the north shore...

St. Lawrence Island

A major melt-out has taken place over the last week. There are now a few major strings of sea ice that are located west and southwest of Gambell. A string of ice floes extends south from the southeast corner of St. Lawrence Island about 15 miles and then extends west back to the mouth of the Gulf of Anadyr. Although there are a lot of clouds in the satellite imagery they are transparent enough to see ice floes below. There is another stringer of ice floes extending northeast just west of Gambell, about 15-20 miles offshore. There is still a lot of ice against the...

St. Lawrence Island

Satellite imagery shows a lot of shorefast ice still in place around the island. A large number of ice floes of various sizes are present west of St. Lawrence Island, many of which are now coming from the Gulf of Anadyr. Heavy ice is still present east of the island as well. All of this ice is slowly drifting northward.

Wales to Shishmaref

Shorefast ice is still present off Wales and Shishmaref. Grounded ice off Point Prince of Wales is helping to hold the shorefast ice in off Shishmaref. There is a lot of open water in the Bering Strait with very scattered...