27 July 2020

In June, warmer temperatures also intensified sea-ice retreat in the Laptev Sea, a phenomenon that spread to the East Siberian Sea in early July. By mid-July the ice cover had retreated to such an extent that, for the first time, the Northeast Passage was completely open. If we take a closer look at the sea-ice extent in the sector from 30° to 180° East, i.e., the Russian Arctic, we can see a historically low level for this region and time of year. “In this sector of the Arctic we’re currently seeing 1 million km² less ice than the average for the past seven years. If you bear in mind that the summertime minimum sea-ice extent can drop below 4 million km², then a quarter of that area is already gone. But of course this alone isn’t enough to make a prediction for the September minimum,” explains Dr Gunnar Spreen from the Institute of Environmental Physics at the University of Bremen. Read more here...

17 July 2020
Every June, the international Sea Ice Prediction Network (SIPN) begins accepting predictions for the summertime Arctic sea-ice minimum extent in September. In the months of June, July and August, predictions can be submitted on the September sea-ice extent for the Arctic as a whole, or for specific regions. The AWI has taken part for the past several years; based on numerical modelling, its forecast calls for a sea-ice extent of 4.27 ± 0.38 million km² in September 2020, similar to the actually observed extent in the years 2007 and 2019. Furthermore, this prediction system also offers the possibility to develop a special forecast for the region of the MOSAiC expedition regarding ice thickness and ice concentration. Read more here ...