Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook Archive

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 southern shoreline of St. Lawrence Island with close pack ice extending beyond the shorefast ice to the south. Wales to Shishmaref The satellite view and reports from the field suggest that shorefast ice remains stable at this time along the northwest Seward Peninsula, however the ice has been documented to...

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 concentrations with small areas of open water are present near both Gambell and Savoonga. Wales to Shishmaref Shorefast ice along the northwest Seward Peninsula is following a near normal pattern, extending 25 to 35 miles off the coast near the point angling to only about 5 miles beyond the barrier islands near...

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. The shorefast ice is beginning to destabilize and very small areas of shorefast ice on the southern shoreline have broken away in the past week. Wales to Shishmaref Onshore wind flow the past week has highly consolidated the ice beyond the coastline from Wales to Shishmaref. The offshore consolidated pack...

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 shorefast ice along the southern shoreline of St. Lawrence Island up to 20 miles wide. Due to temperatures remaining well below freezing, both polynas will likely have new and young ice forming rapidly within them. Wales to Shishmaref Northeasterly flow along the coastline has created areas of small polynas...

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 of the island. Wales to Shishmaref The shorefast ice west of Shishmaref has finally broken up and is slowly disintegrating eastward. There is a lot of open water between the shore and the grounded ice. There are numerous strips of sea ice floes moving through the Bering Strait, but most are 40 miles or...

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 east shore of St. Lawrence Island. Shorefast ice is still present along the north shore. Wales to Shishmaref Shorefast ice along the coast of Wales has finally broken up. The grounded ice off Cape Prince of Wales is no longer holding in the shorefast ice near the Cape. Satellite imagery shows the shorefast...

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 and dispersed ice floes present. 5 to 10 day Outlook Sea ice will continue to melt in place and/or drift northward. A storm is centered over the mainland and a ridge of high pressure is over the Bering Sea. This pattern is producing NW 25 knot (30 mph) winds in the area. The pattern will begin to break down on...

St. Lawrence Island There is a heavy concentration of ice floes on the west and northwest corner of St. Lawrence Island (see satellite image). Much of this ice is coming out of the Gulf of Anadyr. Shorefast ice is still present along the north shore. Sea ice northwest of St. Lawrence is streaming northward.There is still a lot of sea ice 80 miles south of St. Lawrence Island. Wales to Shishmaref Ice floes continue to stream in a narrow band northward through the Bering Strait 25 miles offshore of Wales. Shorefast ice is still present along the shore (see satellite images). Shorefast ice off Shishmaref continues to hold fast. Ice continues to slowly drift northward. 5 to 10 Day Outlook A low pressure system in the northern Gulf of Alaska and high pressure over the northern Bering Sea continues through much of the weekend. This will keep the winds light, generally less than 15 knots (20...

St. Lawrence Island Sea ice continues to melt and drift slowly north. Satellite imagery shows that there is still extensive sea ice in the central Bering Sea near St. Matthew Island. This ice is expected to reach St. Lawrence Island in the next 10-14 days. Winds have been weak so that the ice movement is mostly from ocean currents. Sea ice continues to drift out of the Gulf of Anadyr. There are a lot of ice floes to the west of Gambell, but they are more than 15 miles offshore. Shorefast ice is disappearing in many places. Wales to Shishmaref There is a major concentration of ice floes now in the middle of the Bering Strait, about 20 miles offshore. These floes are in a long strip extending southward to St. Lawrence Island (see satellite image). There are still many floes that are larger than one mile in diameter. Shorefast ice is diminishing along the coast near Wales. The shorefast...

St. Lawrence Island Southerly winds the last few days have pushed the compact sea ice along the north shore of the island northward and there is now lots of open water between this pack and the shorefast ice. The shorefast ice between Gambell and Savoonga is breaking down. However, the shorefast ice east of Savoonga remains in place. Sea ice in the Gulf of Anadyr is beginning to drift northeastward into the western Bering Sea. There is a lot of open water both south and west of the island. Satellite imagery shows the presence of small floes drifting slowly northward west of Gambell. Wales to Shishmaref The Bering Strait has really opened up over the last week. Many floes (some very large, over 1000 feet in diameter) are moving through the strait just west of Cape Prince of Wales. Shorefast ice continues to hold in place along the coast. Ground ice is still in place running in a line...

St. Lawrence Island Sea ice continues to break up south and west of St. Lawrence Island. Ice floes from very small to over 100 feet in diameter are found west of Gambell. Thirty miles west of Gambell there is very heavy pack ice still present. Sea ice remains compact against the north shore. There is a large lead between the east coast and the pack ice offshore (see the satellite images). Wales to Shishmaref There is now extensive open water west of Wales although shorefast ice is still present along the coast. Satellite images show the breakup of Bering Strait extending into the southern Chukchi Sea with some very large floes drifting southward in the strait. The edge of the shorefast ice continues to erode north of Shishmaref with fractures and leads now visible in the imagery. The shorefast edge is still several miles offshore. 5 to 10 Day Outlook Winds are now NW 25 knots (30 mph)...

St. Lawrence Island Breakup is in earnest now in the Northern Bering Sea. Satellite imagery shows cloud formations called cloud streets (because they are long and narrow) that indicate the presence of lots of open water between the ice floes. This is especially the case for the waters south of the island and also west and northwest of Gambell. Compact ice continues to be present across the north shore of St. Lawrence Island although there are some leads forming. Wales to Shishmaref Breakup is also evident in the satellite imagery especially for the west portion of the Bering Strait. Again, the presence of cloud streets indicates lots of open water between floes. Shorefast ice is still present along the entire shore. The ground pressure ridge of ice that extends northwest from Point Prince of Wales is still present. The shorefast ice is beginning to show lots of leads off Shishmaref. The...

St. Lawrence Island Satellite imagery shows that the sea ice continues to break up. There are now more open water leads and open water spaces south of St. Lawrence Island and what ice floes are present are now smaller than 900 feet in diameter near the shore. There is a lot more open water along the west coast of St. Lawrence Island near Gambell, where the ice floes near shore are also less than 900 feet in size with numerous smaller floes. Shortfast ice still dominates the north shore of the island. Along the east coast, compact floes are present right up to the shore. Wales to Shishmaref There is still shorefast ice extending more than a mile offshore near Wales, however, past the shorefast ice there is a lot of open water with numerous ice floes. Very few floes larger than 900 feet are found in the western Bering Strait. The shorefast ice off Shishmaref continues to break up west of...

St. Lawrence Island Satellite imagery shows that the pack ice in the Bering Sea is beginning to break up in earnest. Persistent northerly winds have pushed the ice away from the coast, especially those shores facing south. There is also a lot of erosion of the shorefast ice in Powooiliak Bay to southeast Cape. The presence of cloud streets over the area indicates large open leads offshore. There is also breakdown of the shorefast ice along the west coast of the island. There are numerous broken floes (Qerngayaak) just west and southwest of Gambel. Here the cloud streets indicate that there are areas of open water. The persistent northerly winds have compacted the sea ice pack up against the north shore of St. Lawrence Island. Wales to Shishmaref Persistent northerly winds have pushed the sea ice pack away from the shore and there are now large open water leads off of the shorefast ice...

St. Lawrence Island Satellite imagery shows that the southerly winds over the Bering Sea region the last several days have caused the ice pack to fracture and break up in many areas. With the return of northerly winds the eastern portion of the polynya south of St. Lawrence Island has large areas of new and young ice with large floes embedded in it. There are large leads of open water and new and young ice along the edge of the shorefast ice. North of St. Lawrence the ice pack has become loose with more new and young ice present. However, with the return of northerly winds, the ice pack is being pushed back down against the Island and becoming more compact. Wales to Shishmaref The persistent southerly winds have fractured and broken up the ice pack in the Bering Strait and southern Chukchi Sea, especially in Kotzebue Sound. Wide leads between the shorefast ice and the ice pack are...

Near St. Lawrence Island Satellite imagery shows extensive sea ice around St. Lawrence Island. Northerly winds have pushed the sea ice pack up against the north shore of St. Lawrence Island, and it is tightly packed against the shorefast ice. Satellite imagery and the sea ice models show that there has been a push of sea ice from the Bering Strait, southeastward and extending along the east coast of St. Lawrence Island, that has fractured into various sized floes. Just west of Gambell, there are numerous thick broken floes from very small to very large with lots of young and new ice between the floes. These floes have moved very little the last three days. The predominant northerly winds have fractured the sea ice pack south of St. Lawrence just offshore of the shorefast ice, producing open leads. This is seen in the satellite imagery by the formation of low clouds being formed just...

St. Lawrence Island, Wales, and Shishmaref The Northern Bering Sea is virtually sea ice free. There is a patch of floes about 2-3 miles in diameter 160 miles southwest of St. Lawrence Island that is the last ice to come out of the Gulf of Anadyr. This ice patch is drifting slowly northeast and melting. There is still about 4 to 6 tenths concentration of shorefast ice east of Shishmaref. It appears some of this ice is grounded in place. 5-10 Day Forecast A weak high pressure over the northern Bering Sea is slowly giving way to a deepening low moving into the southwest. This low will reach the central Bering Sea Sunday, 26 June, and continue to drift over St. Lawrence Island Monday, 27 June. A new high pressure ridge will form over the Bering Sea on Wednesday, 29 June. This high pressure ridge will remain in place through Saturday, 2 July, when a low pressure system will move off Russia...

Near St. Lawrence Island Sea ice breakup in the Bering Sea is about 2 weeks or more ahead of schedule. Reports from Gambell and the satellite imagery show that the Bering Sea is nearly sea ice free with only a very few spots of shorefast ice left. There will be no "last ice" out of the Gulf of Anadyr moving past St. Lawrence Island this year. Igor Krupnik provided some Russian dates for ice out of Kresta Bay in the Gulf of Anadyr in recent times; the earliest date was 28 June, in 1930. The combination of a short 2010-2011 winter season and warm ocean waters (North Pacific influx) produced thin ice. The major storm of 8 April really broke up the ice pack and eroded shorefast ice on many coasts. This resulted in a lot of open water for solar radiation to act. Paul Apangalook from Gambell reports that there have been no ice floes past the village since 22 May. Wales to Shishmaref Satellite...

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were not able to update the SIWO forecast on Friday, 10 June. We apologize and will post an update next week. However, please see the updated satellite images and ice condition update below for recent information on ice distribution.

Near St. Lawrence Island The sea ice in the northern Bering Sea has been dissipating rapidly for the last week. Shorefast ice is breaking away from the coast in many areas. There is some shorefast ice east of Savoonga with 2 to 4 tenths concentration of broken and jumbled ice just offshore of the shorefast ice. Shorefast ice is still present along the southeast shoreline of the island. Much of this is due to a big storm bringing gale force winds to the area. Not much more can be said for the ice near St. Lawrence Island because of the consistent cloud cover from that storm hiding the ice in the satellite imagery, however, melting and dissipating sea ice will continue. Wales to Shishmaref Satellite imagery shows that the persistent easterly winds that have been occurring are breaking up the shorefast ice both south of Wales and offshore of Shishmaref. These easterly winds should continue...

Near St. Lawrence Island The majority of the sea ice remains on the northeast and eastern portions of the island. In fact, aside from a small area on the southwest side, there was very little sea ice showing up in satellite imagery around the western half of the island. Last week, there was an extension of the sea ice from east of Savoonga north into the Bering Strait. This area remains in place, but is considerably thinner. Ice concentrations on the eastern half of the island have also thinned, with the sea ice consisting of small floes. Wales to Shishmaref The sea ice continues to remain high just off the west Seward Peninsula coast, however, locally around Wales the sea ice was located 2 to 5 km west of the coast. While concentrations are still high along the western coast, they are noticeably lower than last week and consist of smaller floes. Between Wales and Shishmaref, conditions...

Near St. Lawrence Island Clouds have made viewing the sea ice coverage and movement a little more challenging this week. There was a larger area of high sea ice concentrations moving westward to the eastern part of St. Lawrence Island this week. In the last couple of days this ice appears to be thinning in concentration and has halted or slowed its westward progression. Another area of sea ice extending from near Savoonga and off to the northeast has been in place and not easily viewed given the clouds. It appears this general area of sea ice has not moved much in the last several days. It may be thinning in coverage as well. Elsewhere around the island, sea ice concentrations have been low. Wales to Shishmaref Clouds have persisted around Wales, hindering the view of the sea ice but not as severely as around St. Lawrence Island. The area of sea ice that has been hanging along the west...

Near St. Lawrence Island The combination of strong southeast winds and 7-8 foot seas is eroding the shorefast ice along the south shore of St. Lawrence Island. However, as the southeast winds continue over the next few days, they will push what is left of the pack ice south of the island up against the coast. Satellite imagery shows the shorefast ice between Gambell and Savoonga breaking up. Heavy concentrations of 6-9 tenths (i.e., 60-90%) continue to exist east of Savoonga. The southeast winds are pushing the strings of sea ice just west of Gambell further to the northwest. These southerly winds are also bringing warm temperatures. Wales to Shishmaref The heavy concentration of large floes that were pushed up near the coast is now being pushed offshore by the southeast winds. This should increase the open water just offshore of the shorefast ice. Looking at a sequence of satellite sea...

Near St. Lawrence Island There has been little change in the shorefast ice around Saint Lawrence Island in the last several days. Ice concentrations on the south side of the island have been quite low this week. There has also been an eastward progression of sea ice on the north side of the island. Since ice concentrations have been fairly low to the west side of the island, very little new sea ice has been moving toward the island to replace the ice moving out. Satellite indicates relatively high concentrations of sea ice within 10 miles of the shorefast ice between Gambell and Savoonga, but beyond that ice concentrations are low. East of Savoonga to the northeast side of the island, the ice concentrations are quite high, but this area of higher concentrations is continuing to move eastward. Wales to Shishmaref The shorefast ice appears to not have changed much in the last week from...

Near St. Lawrence Island Sea ice conditions have not changed much since last week. Air temperatures remain below freezing and NE winds have pushed the sea ice pack up against the north shore of St. Lawrence Island. Sea ice south of the island remains 2 to 4 tenths new/young with lots of open water and leads. Satellite imagery shows open water along the shorefast ice by the presence of low cloud formations just south of the open water. This is also the case along the western shore of St. Lawrence Island. Heavy concentrations of thicker ice occur along the coast from Savoonga eastward. In general the area will continue to have northerly winds that will keep similar ice conditions through Monday, 9 May. Wales to Shishmaref Again, sea ice conditions have not changed much since last week. The northeast winds have pushed most of the heavy and larger floes westward into the central and western...