Planning a 2013 Northwest Passage? Northern Routes Likely Blocked with Ice

The polar ice is dynamic - always moving and as Arctic Explorers have learned time and time again - expect change - when you least expect it... be prepared on a minutes notice!

Please wait while large gif images auto download - watch as the date changes:


Thinkness (m):

(30 days 600K)
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticictn_nowcast_anim30d.gif
and
(365 days 6MB)
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticice_nowcast_anim365d.gif



Concentration (%):

(30 Days)
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticice_nowcast_anim30d.gif
and
(365 Days)
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticice_nowcast_anim365d.gif



Ice Drift Speed (cm/sec):

(30 days)
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticicespddrf_nowcast_anim30d.gif
and
(365 days)
http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticictn_nowcast_anim365d.gif

Follow the water: Cold, relatively fresh water from the Pacific Ocean enters the Arctic Ocean through the Bering Strait. It is swept into the Beaufort Gyre and exits into the North Atlantic Ocean through three gateways (Fram, Davis, and Hudson Straits). Warmer, denser waters from the Atlantic penetrate the Arctic Ocean beneath colder water layers, which lie atop the warmer waters and act as a barrier preventing them from melting sea ice. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists have launched a variety of missions to explore how global climate change is affecting the Arctic, and how changes in the Arctic, in turn, could spill out and cause further climate change well beyond the polar region. (Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Image: Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute)