Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Arctic in Hot Water: Sea Ice Minimal in Chukchi, Bering Seas
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
November 19, 2019

Share

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The U.S. research vessel Sikuliaq can break through ice as thick as 2.5 feet. In the Chukchi Sea northwest of Alaska this month, which should be brimming with floes, its limits likely won’t be tested.

“We’re trying to understand what the new autumn looks like in the Arctic.” — Jim Thomson, an oceanographer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory
University of Washington researchers left Nome on Nov. 7 on the 261-foot ship, crossed through the Bering Strait and will record observations at multiple sites including Utqiaġvik, formerly Barrow, America’s northernmost community. Sea ice is creeping toward the city from the east in the Beaufort Sea, but to find sea ice in the Chukchi, the Sikuliaq would have to head northwest for about 200 miles.
In the new reality of the U.S. Arctic, open water is the November norm for the Chukchi. Instead of thick, years-old ice, researchers are studying waves and how they may pummel the northern Alaska coastline.
“We’re trying to understand what the new autumn looks like in the Arctic,” said Jim Thomson, an oceanographer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory.
Chukchi sea ice in early November was at its lowest level on record, said Rick Thoman, a climate expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ International Arctic Research Center and a former National Weather Service forecaster.
Low ice is a problem for people of the coast. Communities north and south of the Bering Strait rely on near-shore ice to act as a natural sea wall, protecting land from erosion brought on by winter storms.
Sea ice is a platform from which to catch crab or cod in Nome, a transportation corridor between villages in Kotzebue Sound and a work station on which to butcher walrus near Gambell.

The Formation of Sea Ice Requires the Ocean Temperature to Be About 28 Degrees

Sea ice is also a one of the most important physical elements of the Chukchi and Bering seas. The cold, salty water underneath ice creates structure in the water column that separates Arctic species from commercially valuable fish such as Pacific cod and walleye pollock. When sea ice melts, it creates conditions important for the development of microorganisms at the base of the food web.
And then there’s wildlife. Sea ice is the prime habitat for polar bears and the preferred location for dens where females give birth. Female walruses with young use sea ice as a resting platform and follow the ice edge south as it moves into the Bering Sea.
The formation of sea ice requires the ocean temperature to be about 28 degrees, the freezing point of saltwater. Historically, ice has formed in the northernmost waters and been moved by currents and wind into the southern Chukchi and Bering seas, where it cools the water, allowing even more ice to form, said Andy Mahoney, a sea ice physicist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute.
Forecasters 20 years ago took it as a given that the water temperature would be cold enough to form sea ice.
“Even at the end of summer you couldn’t get enough heat into the ocean to raise the water temperature significantly above freezing,” Mahoney said. “So it didn’t take much cooling to cool the ocean down to the freezing point.”
Climate warming has brought a harsh new reality. High summer temperatures have warmed the entire water column in the Bering and Chukchi seas. Water temperature from the surface to the ocean bottom remain above normal, delaying ice formation.
“We’ve got a cold atmosphere. We’ve got a strong wind. You’d think we’d be forming ice, but there’s just too much heat left in the ocean,” Mahoney said.

Photo of a view from the main lab of the Sikuliaq in the Chukchi Sea
This Nov. 8, 2019, photo provided by John Guillote shows a view from the main lab of the Sikuliaq in the Chukchi Sea. University of Washington scientists onboard the research vessel are studying the changes and how less sea ice will affect coastlines, which already are vulnerable to erosion because increased waves delivered by storms. More erosion would increase the chance of winter flooding in villages and danger to hunters in small boats. (John Guillote via AP)

Forecasting Sea Ice Is Notoriously Difficult

The water potentially is warm enough to melt ice moving south from northern locations.

“Maybe the horizontal extent conceivably gets up to normal, but it has to be extremely thin and it will be subject to rapid melting if we get into a stormy period in the winter or spring. And even if that doesn’t happen, because it’s thinner, it means it’s going to melt out sooner come next spring.” Rick Thoman, a climate expert at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ International Arctic Research Center and a former National Weather Service forecaster
“I haven’t seen any direct observations where ice has been transported into the Chukchi Sea and then melted,” Mahoney said. “But the water temperature maps that I’ve seen, they’re still significantly positive in Celsius. And you can’t grow ice, even if you bring ice in, if the water temperatures above freezing, that ice is ultimately going to experience melting from the water temperature.”
Thomson and other scientists on the Sikuliaq will look at how the changes could affect coastlines, which already are eroding. Less ice and more open water translates to a significant threat. Ice acts as a smothering blanket, keeping down the size of waves. Open water increases fetch, the distance over which wave-generating winds blow.
“We know from other projects and other work that the waves are definitely on the increase in the Arctic,” Thomson said.
That means even more erosion, the chance of winter flooding in villages and increased danger to hunters in small boats and longer distances for them to travel to find seals and walruses.
Forecasting sea ice is notoriously difficult but Thoman, the ex-weather forecaster, said he expects a less than robust year for sea ice.
“Maybe the horizontal extent conceivably gets up to normal, but it has to be extremely thin and it will be subject to rapid melting if we get into a stormy period in the winter or spring,” Thoman said. “And even if that doesn’t happen, because it’s thinner, it means it’s going to melt out sooner come next spring.”
[activecampaign form=29]

DON'T MISS

Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban

DON'T MISS

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

DON'T MISS

The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale

DON'T MISS

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

DON'T MISS

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

DON'T MISS

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

DON'T MISS

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

DON'T MISS

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

DON'T MISS

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Will Review Billions in Funding for Harvard

UP NEXT

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

UP NEXT

Utah Becomes the First State to Ban Fluoride in Public Drinking Water

UP NEXT

Wilmer Flores’ 3-Run Homer in the 9th Inning Propels Giants to Victory Over Reds

UP NEXT

Democrats’ Popularity Plummets, yet Midterm Prospects Remain Strong

UP NEXT

USDA Explores Why US Egg Shortage Contrasts with Canada’s Abundant Supply

UP NEXT

Cuts Leave Social Security System in Disarray With Millions Affected

UP NEXT

Hyundai to Build $5.8B Steel Mill in Louisiana, Creating 5,400 Jobs

UP NEXT

Supreme Court Backs Biden’s Ghost Gun Regulation Requiring Serial Numbers, Background Checks

UP NEXT

Trump Signs Order Requiring Proof of Citizenship to Vote

UP NEXT

Former Utah Rep. Mia Love Dies. She Was 1st Black Republican Woman Elected to US House

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

10 hours ago

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

10 hours ago

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

11 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

11 hours ago

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

11 hours ago

U.S. Bank Executive Terry Dolan Dies in Plane Crash Near Minneapolis

12 hours ago

Trump Administration Will Review Billions in Funding for Harvard

13 hours ago

Former MLB Pitcher CJ Wilson of Fresno on New Torpedo Bats: ‘Still Room for Innovation’

13 hours ago

Man Arrested After Shooting at Fresno’s Switch Nightclub

13 hours ago

Who Is Fresno’s ‘Fake’ ICE Agent? He Speaks Up

14 hours ago

Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban

NEW YORK — Atlanta Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar has been suspended for 80 games without pay for performance-enhancing drug use. Major ...

9 hours ago

Jurickson Profar
9 hours ago

Braves’ Jurickson Profar Hit With 80-Game PED Ban

10 hours ago

Watch: City Demolishes Historic Chinatown Building to Make Way for Housing

Photo of First Lady Melania Trump
10 hours ago

The Mystery of Melania Trump’s Wedding Dress and an eBay Sale

10 hours ago

Heading to Sierra? Prepare for Heavy Snow

Miguel Obed Romero Reyes, 25, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty Monday, March 31, 2025, to trafficking more than 200,000 fentanyl pills after authorities seized the drugs during a traffic stop on Interstate 5. (DOJ)
10 hours ago

Mexican National Caught in Fresno County Pleads Guilty to Fentanyl Trafficking

11 hours ago

CA Snowpack Is Near-Average. What Does This Mean for Water Supplies?

11 hours ago

Shohei Ohtani Adds Another No. 1 to His Resume: MLB’s Best-Selling Jersey

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts (1) lines up for the goal line Tush Push play during the NFL championship playoff football game against the Washington Commanders, Jan. 26, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP File)
11 hours ago

Tush Push Is the Hottest Topic at the NFL League Meetings

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend