Een fraaie opname van de Japanse AMSR2. Rechtsonder Spitsbergen.
High-resolution passive microwave concentration data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency AMSR2 sensor, produced by the University of Bremen, indicate a highly unusual region of broken-up ice near the North Pole. Development of this low concentration ice may have been assisted by the cyclonic atmospheric pattern noted earlier.
While the AMSR2 image in Figure 5 suggests concentrations as low as 50%, visible imagery from the MODIS sensor on the NASA Aqua satellite indicate that AMSR2 is underestimating concentration, likely due to biases from surface melt.
Still, the MODIS data do confirm that the ice is highly fractured with numerous small floes. Such small floes are more easily melted from the sides and the bottom by ocean waters that are exposed to the 24-hour sunlight. It remains to be seen how many of these small floes will ultimately melt completely.
Vlakbij de Noordpool is een ongebruikelijk lage concentratie van zee-ijs. Die wordt toegeschreven aan sterke cyclonaliteit boven de Noordpool in juni.
Over het juni zee-ijs lees ik het volgende:
June 2013 was the 11th lowest June in the 1979 to 2013 satellite record, 760,000 square kilometers (293,000 square miles) above the record low in 2010.
Verwacht wordt dat de smelt verderop in de zomer, vanwege het relatief dunne ijs, sneller zal verlopen.
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