June Arctic Ice Still Strong

via Science Matters
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June 8, 2017. Boats are shown trapped in heavy ice off La Scie, Newfoundland in a handout photo from the Department of Fisheries and Ocean. Thick Arctic pack ice has trapped multiple vessels and triggered a high-stakes rescue operation from a sinking ship off Newfoundland. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Department of Fisheires and Oceans)

Thick Arctic ice pack traps boats, triggers rescue operation off Newfoundland

Unusually heavy Arctic pack ice has trapped multiple vessels, stymied the fishing season and triggered a high-stakes rescue operation from a sinking ship off Newfoundland.

Trevor Hodgson, the Canadian Coast Guard’s superintendent of ice operations for the Atlantic region, said the heavy ice is more than two metres thick in some areas off the province’s northeast coast.

What’s unusual this year, Hodgson said, is the way the winds have pushed the thick pack ice towards land rather than out to sea.

He said ice conditions are so bad the Coast Guard has been unable to free trapped vessels with its icebreaker Amundsen. Three fishing vessels remain trapped in ice off northeastern Newfoundland.

The image above shows Arctic Atlantic sea ice continues to hold most of the coastline in its grip. Svalbard is still mostly enclosed and Newfounland upper left with packed ice as in the photo. The graph below shows the last 10 days with 2017 holding a lead of 260k km2 above average, 320k km2 more than 2007 and 900k km2 greater than 2016.

The graph below excludes the Pacific seas of Okhotsk and Barents, which are melting early (~100k km2 below average as of yesterday) and distort what is happening in central and Atlantic Arctic seas.