Sea Ice Monitoring

August 2010

BeijingClimateCenter

China Meteorological Administration

Northern Hemisphere

During August2010, sea ice concentrations were above 80% in the Arctic, and decreased southward surrounding the Arctic. They were only 10~20% in the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea, and were not more than 10% in the East Siberian Sea, the Laptev Sea, parts of the Kara Sea and the Barents Sea, and parts of the Foxe Basin and the Hudson Bay.Theanomalies of sea ice concentrationwere −10-−40%inthe northwestern Canada’s waters, the ChukchiSea, the Laptev Sea, and the northernKaraSea, and −40-−50% in parts of them.Meanwhile, positive anomalies were observed about 10-30% in the Greenland Sea and the northern Norwegian Sea (Fig.1).

Fig. 1 Monthly Sea Ice Concentrations (left) and Anomalies (right) in the Northern Hemisphere (unit:%) 2010.08

solid line----positive value dashed line:---- negative value isoclinesinterval----20%

Southern Hemisphere

During August2010, the positive anomalies of sea ice concentrationswere 10-60% in the northern Weddell Sea,the seabasin ofthe South-East Pacific Ocean,the Antarctic-Pacific Ridge, and the sea basinof the Atlantic-IndianOcean, and were 70-80% in parts of them. Meanwhile,sea ice concentrations were 10-30% below normal in the southern South Atlantic Ocean,the Drake Strait, and the sea basin of the South Indian Ocean, and were 30~40% below normal in parts of them (Fig.2).

Fig. 2 Monthly Sea Ice Concentrations (left) and Anomalies (right) in the Southern Hemisphere (unit:%) 2010.08

solid line----positive value dashed line:---- negative value isoclinesinterval----20%

We willclosely monitor and update sea ice conditions and provide related information in time.

Remark: Original data are obtained from the OI.v2 Monthly SST Analysis and climatologicfields are from the 1982-2004 base period means.

Analyst: Climate PredictionDivision/National Climate Center/CMA

Reference

Reynolds, R.W., N.A. Rayner, T.M. Smith, D.C. Stokes, and W. Wang, 2002: An Improved In Situ and Satellite SST Analysis for Climate, J. Climate, 15 (13): 1609-1625.