Overall, conditions on the continent and adjacent seas are far warmer than is typical, with regions near the Peninsula up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average for May through July, and temperatures in the Weddell Sea between 3 to 7 degrees Celsius (5 to 13 degrees Fahrenheit) above average. A high pressure tendency over Queen Maud Land is also acting to bring warm air from the north across the eastern end of the Weddell Sea ice cover. The summer has been marked by a strong Amundsen Sea Low, which tends to drive warmer air from the northwest across the Peninsula and into the northern Weddell Sea. About the dataĬredit: National Snow and Ice Data CenterĪs of this report, Antarctic sea ice extent persists at record low levels, with regional low ice extent along the Weddell Sea at its northern ice edge, much of the East Antarctic coast, and the Bellingshausen Sea. The orange line shows the 1981 to 2010 average extent for that day.
Antarctic sea ice extent for Augwas 15.90 million square kilometers (6.14 million square miles). July 2022 compared to previous yearsįigure 4. This shift explains both the below average temperatures at the 925 mb level (about 2,500 feet above the surface) over the East Siberian Sea, where the implied winds between the high and low pressures have a component from the north, and the above average temperature north of the Barents Sea, where the implied winds on the eastern side of the anticyclone have an offshore component (Figure 2b).
While the average sea level pressure pattern for the first half of the month featured a distinct area of low pressure centered over the central Arctic Ocean near the North Pole, the pattern for the second half of the month was one of high pressure (an anticyclone) centered north of the Laptev Sea, with low pressure centered near the Bering Strait between eastern Russia and Alaska (Figure 2a). The second half of July saw a shift in weather patterns. Yellows and reds indicate higher than average temperatures blues and purples indicate lower than average temperatures.Ĭredit: NSIDC courtesy NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Sciences Laboratory This plot shows the departure from average air temperature, relative to the 1981 to 2020 reference period, in the Arctic at the 925 hPa level, in degrees Celsius, from July 15 to July 30, 2022. By contrast, as assessed from Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) satellite data, the southern route through the Northwest Passage, known as Amundsen’s route, may open in the next few weeks, depending on weather conditions. Given the extensive ice in the East Siberian Sea, it seems unlikely that this will be the case in 2022. While Russia makes use of the Northern Sea route year-round, over the past decade, this coastal route has become nearly or completely ice-free in late summer. The area of low concentration ice over the central Arctic Ocean extending to near the pole persists. Extent continues to be below average in the Barents Sea. Strong on-shore ice motion during the third week of July in part explains the persistence of sea ice in this region (Figure 1c). However, by sharp contrast, ice is extensive further east in the East Siberian Sea, extending to near the shore. The average extent for the month of July as a whole was 8.25 million square kilometers (3.19 million square miles), the twelfth lowest in the satellite record.Īs previously reported in our mid-July post, a notable aspect of this summer so far is the substantial amount of open water along the Eurasia Coast in the Laptev Sea sector. Extent on August 1, while well below the 1981 to 2010 average, was the highest since 2014 and overall was twelfth lowest in the satellite record (Figure 1b). The decline rate of the extent through the second half of July was near the 1981 to 2010 average. Strong on-shore ice motion during the third week of July in part explains the persistence of sea ice in the East Siberian Sea.Ĭredit: European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application FacilitiesĪs of August 1, Arctic sea ice extent stood at 6.99 million square kilometers (2.70 million square miles) (Figure 1a).
This figure shows ice motion vectors at 62.5-kilometer spatial resolution from July 19 to 21, 2022, based on passive and active microwave satellite data from the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites Ocean and Sea Ice Satellite Application Facilities low-resolution sea ice drift product.