🔄FROM THE ARCHIVE: In late October, sea ice off Siberia has only now begun to start freezing — an unprecedented situation for that part of the Arctic.
In September, sea surface temperatures in the Laptev Sea off Siberia climbed higher than 5 degrees Celsius, or 41 degrees Fahrenheit. "That’s insanely warm for the Arctic Ocean, especially in that region, far away from any warmer inflow from the Atlantic or Pacific," he says.
You can get a feel for this effect in the animation above, which shows a model forecast for how air temperatures near the surface in the Northern Hemisphere will vary from normal from late October through Nov. 13. Note the grayish colors in the Arctic just off Siberia. Why is the ocean so warm? It's tied to very early melting of the sea ice following winter last year. That occurred because of "extreme conditions," Meier says. Southerly winds along the Siberian coast "brought warm air temperatures and also served to push the ice away from the coast, initiating the opening."
"The ice was already opening up by Jun. 21," Meier says. "So you had open water when the sun was at its maximum in the Northern Hemisphere — 24 hours of daylight in the Arctic bringing in energy to the low-albedo ocean water. That served to melt more ice and heat up the ocean."Now, with the Sun barely above the horizon along the Siberian coast, the waters are exposed to almost no solar radiation.
Interestingly, once the ocean gives off sufficient heat to allow sea surface temperatures to fall low enough, ice can form rapidly, Meier says. So we should not be surprised to see the extent of the ice cover in the Arctic catching up in coming weeks.
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