Sea Ice for Walrus Outlook Archive

Sea ice conditions continue to reflect the effects of the large storm that moved through the area about 12 days ago. There are lots of small broken-up floes in the north central and northwestern Bering Sea, extending northward into the Bering Strait. St. Lawrence Island Sea ice continues to be made up of numerous small floes with extensive new/young ice in between, especially south of St. Lawrence Island. Shorefast ice is still present along the south shore. However, there is now open water along the edge of that shorefast ice. Numerous small floes of first-year thin ice are embedded in new/young that ice extends many miles west and north of Gambell. East of Gambell and north of Savoonga, the sea ice becomes much more concentrated with increased amounts of many sized first-year thick floes. The thickest and most concentrated sea ice now occupies the northeastern Bering Sea. Extensive...

Near St. Lawrence Island The big storm last week affected the concentration and extent of the sea ice in the Bering and southern Chukchi Seas - breaking and fracturing the ice, especially the shorefast ice that had exposure to storm winds (see the satellite images below). The lead edge of shorefast ice on the south side of St. Lawrence Island is fractured and broken up. It is probably very difficult to launch a boat from the edge because of the jumbled ice. Offshore of the shorefast edge, a large area of new/young and first-year thin ice extends at least 20 miles south. The pack ice west and northwest of Gambell is very loose with lots of new/young/first-year thin ice in between the heavier floes. The pack ice is pushing down onto the shorefast ice along the north coast of St. Lawrence. However, there is a lead at the shorefast edge that extends a few miles offshore. A comparison of the...

Near St. Lawrence Island Strong NE gale winds (minimum 35-40 knots) have pushed the sea ice down against the north shore of St. Lawrence Island, and forecasted winds over the next ten days should keep that ice up against the shore and shorefast ice. This push could be strong enough to break up the edge of the shorefast ice. The NE winds have opened up the waters south of the island so that the new and young ice is heavily fractured with some open water between. This condition should last for the next ten days. Satellite imagery shows that the sea ice pack around St. Lawrence Island is fractured into many floes of various sizes. Wales to Shishmaref The strong NE winds have caused the leading edge of the shorefast ice north of Shishmaref to break up. Satellite imagery shows a well defined line of new/young ice and open water extending well southward past Wales between the edge of the...

Near St. Lawrence Island Satellite imagery shows the sea ice around St. Lawrence Island to be made up of numerous broken floes of all sizes. The ice appears thin with many areas of open water leads, and new, young ice just offshore of the expansive shorefast ice, especially along the south side of the island. Conditions are similar along the north coast between Gambell and Savoonga, but the shorefast ice between the two towns is very narrow. Shorefast ice east of Savoonga extends out many miles offshore. Current wind conditions continue to favor the loose pack south of the island. Wales to Shishmaref There is extensive shorefast ice just south of Wales and just offshore of Shishmaref. The shorefast ice just off of Wales appears to extend 2-3 miles. A large lead extends south-north in the center of the northern Bering Strait just east of the Diomedes. The pack in the eastern portion of...

This will be the last SIWO outlook for the 2010 season. Near St. Lawrence Island The waters around St. Lawrence Island are becoming virtually sea-ice free except for some floes off the eastern end of the Island. The concentration is less than 20% and the floes are generally very small. All the "last ice" in the Gulf of Anadyr is gone. There is still persistent shorefast ice present along the northeastern coast of the Island, east of Savoonga. Wales to Shishmaref Satellite imagery shows that the shorefast ice off of Shishmaref has finally begun to really break up. Large portions of the fast ice are moving slowly northward. Very little ice, if any, is present west of Wales. 5 to 10 Day outlook: June 25 to July 5 A high pressure ridge will build over the central Bering Sea today (Friday, June 25) and persist through Monday, June 28. Southerly winds will dominate the region and with little...

Near St. Lawrence Island Clouds have hindered the view the past several days, however, there are indications that shorefast ice still exists over the northeastern portion of St. Lawrence Island. Waters around the western half of the island appear to be ice free. Ice floes of various size have been flowing westward away from the west coast of Alaska and toward the southeast portion of St. Lawrence Island. The concentration of these floes is likely very low within 50 miles of the island. Wales to Shishmaref The nose of shorefast ice continues to persist between Wales and Shishmaref. While the ice was breaking up last week, the breakup appears to have slowed in the past several days. Very little ice, if any, appears to exist within 50 miles to the west or north of the northern tip of shorefast ice. Floes relatively small in size are located to the east and southeast of the shorefast ice...

Near St. Lawrence Island The waters around St. Lawrence Island are rapidly losing the little remaining sea ice. There is still some persistent shorefast ice, especially east of Savoonga and along the south shore of the Island. The only area near the Island of significant ice floes is just offshore of the east end of the Island. Here there is about 2 tenths concentration of various size floes, most less than 100m in size. Winds have been light out of the south. Very little ice is left in the Gulf of Anadyr, so there are few floes moving northwest past Gambell. Wales to Shishmaref Remnants of shorefast ice still exist along the shore between Wales and Shishmaref. Offshore of Wales the waters are open with some small floes moving northward under the strong southerly winds. The shorefast ice off Shishmaref is beginning to really breakup in place. There are very wide north-south leads...

Near St. Lawrence Island Sea ice continues to melt rapidly in the northern Being Sea. However, there are remnants of shorefast ice along the north shore of St. Lawrence Island between Gambell and Savoonga. There is a large concentration of pack ice offshore of the shorefast ice just east of Savoonga extending northward about 20 miles. 5-7 tenths of sea ice present east and southeast of the Island consists of mixed floes. "Last ice" is now drifting in bands from the Gulf of Anadyr northeastward toward the Bering Strait. A major band of this sea ice is about 20 miles northwest of Gambell, and extends all the way back to the southern Gulf of Anadyr. Everywhere else there are widely scattered floes in open water. Wales to Shishmaref The rugged shorefast ice continues to hold between Wales and Shishmaref. Radar satellite imagery shows some grounded, ridged ice that is trapping the ice along...

Near St. Lawrence Island High pressure continues to persist over the northern Chukchi Sea, producing consistent northerly winds. The northerly winds have pushed some of the ice pack down on the north shore of St. Lawrence Island, west of Savoonga. Otherwise, except for some narrow shorefast ice along some of the shores, the waters northwest, west, and south of St. Lawrence Island are open with widely scattered small floes still present. The major ice pack still exists east and southeast of St. Lawrence Island where there is a mix of floe types and sizes. The open waters around St. Lawrence Island continue to warm, helping what ice is left to melt. Wales to Shishmaref There is still some shorefast ice off Wales. Offshore the waters are open with widely scattered floes. The flow of warm water through the Bering Strait has helped to melt the ice pack so that the central portion of the...

Near St. Lawrence Island There is now open water south and west of St. Lawrence Island. There is a band of ice floes west of Gambell that extends southwest to northeast about 15 miles offshore. Floe size varies from 3/4 mile in diameter to very small floes. The floes are mostly broken. "Last ice" still remains in the southwest corner of the Gulf of Anadyr. Wales to Shishmaref Northerly winds continue to persist, pushing the ice pack down against the shorefast ice that is still in place across the northwest shore of the Seward Peninsula. A narrow strip of shorefast ice continues south along the shore past Wales. Offshore of this shorefast ice is open water with small floes. This open water area extends more than halfway across the Bering Strait. 5 and 10 Day Outlook: May 21 to May 31 High pressure will continue over the Arctic over the next ten days, though it will weaken slowly over the...

Near St. Lawrence Island Northerly winds are continuing to persist well into May. These winds are keeping a lot of the ice south of the Bering Strait, especially east of St. Lawrence Island where ice concentration is 50-70%. North and west of St. Lawrence there are large expanses of open water and new, young ice with numerous, mixed-size, individual, heavier ice floes in long bands. South of St. Lawrence there is 30-50% concentration of ice extending over 60 miles south. There are still some narrow bands of shorefast ice along the southern shore of the island. Wales to Shishmaref There is a heavy band of mix-sized ice floes extending along the coast north of Cape York. Concentration of the ice band is 30-50%. Some of the floes are more than a mile in size. Further offshore of this band is an area (25 miles wide) of open water and new, young, and some heavier floes. Clouds cover the...

Near Saint Lawrence Island Northerly winds have continued to push ice south of the Bering Strait and to the east of Saint Lawrence Island. This ice was also packing up over the eastern half of the island. There has been enough of an easterly component recently to allow for the sea ice to move westward around Saint Lawrence Island. As a result, ice concentrations northwest of Savoonga and north of Gambell are relatively low. Also, the general flow of ice has not been northward to the south and west of Saint Lawrence Island. Waters were somewhat open on the west side of Saint Lawrence Island out to at least 30 miles. South of the Island, the higher concentrations of sea ice are more than 60 miles away. However, a band of large floes were positioned about 30 miles south of Saint Lawrence Island. Wales to Shishmaref The landfast ice remained unchanged the last week, heavily fractured with...

Near Saint Lawrence Island Persistent northeast winds through April 28th continued to push large floes south into Saint Lawrence Island, especially around and to the east of Savoonga. These winds have also kept concentrations of the large floes 10-25 miles west of Saint Lawrence Island and more than 40 miles to the south of Saint Lawrence Island. The sea ice was generally drifting south through the 28th. Westerly winds on the 29th modified the flow slightly, but this change will be brief. Closer to shore, new ice continued to reform in the polynyas, however, satellite imagery indicates that the concentration of new ice is less than a few days ago. Wales to Shishmaref The landfast ice has persisted the last week, with relatively small changes from Wales to Shishmaref. The shorefast ice remains heavily fractured with many leads. Northerly winds had kept pack ice close to the shorefast ice...

Wales to Shishmaref The storms of early to mid April significantly reduced the shorefast ice near Wales. The ice edge continues to erode slowly. There is open water along the shorefast ice. Further offshore of the shorefast ice and open water there is a lot of new, young ice extending out to 10 miles or more. Clouds cover the ice north of Shishmaref, but breaks in the clouds indicate that the shorefast ice is heavily fractured and has many leads, and that strong southerly winds could break down this ice very rapidly the next time they occur. At present, the northerly winds have pushed the pack ice up against the shorefast ice, but it is not consolidated. There are many large leads with open water; others have new ice. Temperatures continue to remain normal for this time of year. Near St. Lawrence Island The sea ice continues to show the impacts of the several storms that brought south...

Near Gambell The change in the weather pattern over the last week has resulted in very little shorefast ice present around Saint Lawrence Island. Another significant change noted is on the southwest and south sides of Saint Lawrence Island where southerly winds brought older ice in high concentrations within 10 miles of shore. Meanwhile, ice concentrations have thinned on the north side of Saint Lawrence Island. Young ice was prevalent near Gambell to more than 20 miles west and north of Gambell. Satellite indicated less new ice and more open water from west of Gambell to north of Savoogna. However, large floes were drifting south into and toward Niyrakpak Lagoon. Most of the floes were around 5 miles in length, however, there was one floe over 10 miles in length present about 7 miles north of Savoogna. Wales to Shishmaref There was a significant reduction in the shorefast ice from...

Wales to Shishmaref The presence of shorefast ice continues to extend from Wales to Shishmaref. However, the offshore edge of the shorefast ice north of Wales, near Cape Prince of Wales, is eroding slowly. Shorefast offshore of Wales continues to be about 1-2 miles wide with open water along the edge. Further offshore of Wales there is extensive new and young ice with many open water leads and scattered small floes extending more than 30 miles. This area was caused by the generally persistent northerly winds that pushed the heavier concentration of sea ice southward toward St. Lawrence Island. The shorefast ice off of Shishmaref still extends northward more than 40 miles. However, the shorefast ice edge shows sign of erosion from the pack ice in the Chukchi being blown by the winds up against the shorefast ice. Concentration of sea ice north of the shorefast ice is 80-90%. Major leads...

Wales to Shishmaref Shorefast continues to extend from Wales to Shishmaref 20-40 miles offshore along the coast. Just south of Wales the shorefast ice is now only 1-2 miles wide. There is open water along the edge of the shorefast ice. Large ice floes continue to drift northward through Bering Strait. Ice concentration is over 70%. Satellite imagery indicates the presence of new and young ice forming between floes, in parts of open water areas, and just offshore of the shorefast lead. Near St. Lawrence Island Shorefast ice continues to persist along the north shore of St. Lawrence Island between Gambell and Savoonga. The shorefast ice continues eastward around Northeast Cape. The concentration of the ice north of the shorefast ice is about 70%. It is fractured, consisting of many small floes near the shorefast edge but increasing in size northward where some floes are greater than 20...