Arctic Ice July - Update #4



Once again my focus is on Nares Strait.  This time I want to show how glaciers can be affected indirectly by sea ice.

There are two major glaciers in the Nares Strait - Petermann and Humboldt.  Both are primed for calving.

Biotransport and ocean mixing


Before I get into the 'bio' aspect of this article I want to put it in context by pointing to a means of ocean mixing that is not as well known as it deserves to be.  And to put that, in turn, in context: a new report from NSIDC confirms that there is a lot of open water in the central pack near the North Pole.  That open water was noted by one of my readers, Lord Soth in a comment.

Here is an abstract from the NSIDC report for July 20 2010:

Bridges That Build Themselves

The two oldest types of bridge are the arch bridge and the corbel bridge.  It takes a lot of time and effort to build them, but they can last for thousands of years.

Rockfalls can make natural bridges over streams, but the 'design' is very inefficient.  The water channels are easily blocked, with resultant flooding of the adjacent banks.

If I told you that a tornado could pick up rocks and drop them across a river so as to form a perfect arch bridge, you wouldn't believe me.  I hope.  The only way to build a stone arch bridge is to set up a type of scaffolding, shuttering, or former - more properly known as centering.

Jakobshavn Glacier Second Calving ?

The calving front of Jakobshavn glacier has retreated dramatically since about 1850, to the point that the two main outflow ice streams can be seen as separate calving fronts, Jakobshavn North and South.

Jakobshavn North recently calved a large floe which was widely reported by Arctic watchers and then picked up by the news media - and hyped up. 

For a non-hyped report I recommend http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/.../jakobshavn...

Arctic Ice July 2010 - Update #3

An update and a bit of Arctic history.

Despite the extensive cloud cover over much of the Arctic it is possible to see some interesting patterns of behavior.

Around the Siberian side of the Arctic the ice has already retreated from shore or is in process of retreating.  The same goes for the Alaskan and Canadian shores as far as Prince Patrick Island.  Ice in the fjords and passages from the Beaufort Sea to Nares Strait is melting.