The map above shows the degree sea ice in the Bering Sea on February 16, 2022, when it covered more than 846,000 square kilometers (327,000 square miles), going beyond the 1981– 2010 mean. (Ice extent is the area with at least 15 percent ice cover, the minimum at which space-based measurements provide a reputable measurement.).
1979– 2022.
” Even with the winter season increasing trend, there is a lot of variability,” Meier stated. The winter of 2018 saw a record low for the Bering Sea, with nearly no ice for much of the winter. In fact, the winter season of 2018 brought less ice to the Bering Sea than any winter given that the start of written records in 1850. Sea ice was scarce in the list below year too, with February 2019 extents ranking just above 2018.
The chart above compares the sea ice level in the Bering Sea each year to the 1981– 2010 mean as the percent difference from that mean. In the previous decade, just two years– 2013 and 2022– increased above the mean. The winter season growth trend can be seen in years that fall below the mean.
On time scales of weeks to months, wind and weather condition play a large function in the formation and level of Bering Sea ice. In the first two weeks of February 2022, an area of low air pressure developed over the North Pacific Ocean. This drew cold winds from the north and from the east off Alaska, which chilled surface waters and helped with freezing. The north winds then blew that ice south, broadening the ice pack.
Unlike most other Arctic seas, the Bering is open to the ocean (except where it is hemmed in by the Aleutian Islands), allowing the ice to broaden unobstructed. “The [Bering Sea] ice is also rather thin and mobile, so it can move rapidly with winds, and grow or melt based on the temperature level,” Meier stated. When the sea-level pressure pattern modifications, the winds shift, and the ice edge can rapidly pull back north. By February 20, winds burning out of the south had actually moved the ice north and away from St. Paul Island.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Joshua Stevens, utilizing information from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
In 2022, the floating ice cover in the Bering Sea reached its biggest level for early to mid-February given that 2013. The winter season of 2018 saw a record low for the Bering Sea, with nearly no ice for much of the winter. The winter of 2018 brought less ice to the Bering Sea than any winter season given that the start of composed records in 1850. The chart above compares the sea ice degree in the Bering Sea each year to the 1981– 2010 mean as the percent difference from that mean. The north winds then blew that ice south, broadening the ice pack.
By Sara E. Pratt, NASA Earth Observatory
February 24, 2022
February 16, 2022
Regardless of a general pattern of Arctic ice loss, the Bering Sea saw a growth of sea ice due to a short-term atmospheric-pressure pattern.
In 2022, the drifting ice cover in the Bering Sea reached its biggest level for early to mid-February since 2013. By February 13, the sea ice had actually reached St. Paul in the Pribilof Islands for the very first time because March 2020. The ice development is an outlier amid a long-term decline.
In the Arctic, where yearly average temperature levels have increased more than 3 times as quick as the global average, the sea ice degree is decreasing. This is true especially in summertime, however likewise year-round, in almost every region– except the Bering Sea, stated Walt Meier, a sea ice researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). “The one exception has actually been the Bering Sea throughout late winter season and early spring (February to April), where there is an increasing pattern,” stated Meier. The factors for this are not completely comprehended, however might associate with multidecadal irregularity in the northern Pacific Ocean, he included.
