ASI 2013 update 2: shaken and stirred

[phantom power]

The slow start I reported on in the previous update has continued, but as always in the Arctic there is more than meets the sensor. The slowness shows itself mostly in the area and extent numbers (changing as we speak), and the main culprit is that cyclone that refuses to go away.

I initially said this would be a relatively small cyclone, and even called it the Small Arctic Cyclone of 2013 in one of the two posts I devoted to it since the last ASI update, as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 (GAC-2012). But you know what? It ain't that small, and what's even more interesting: it just won't go away.

For over two weeks now it's been keeping things colder and cloudier over the central Arctic, but at the same time it's been shaking and stirring the ice, wherever it passes. Not to the point that it makes the ice disappear - this isn't August, most of the ice is still thick enough -, but it is showing how mobile the ice is, ripping holes in the ice pack that close up again once the storm has passed. It reminds me a bit of the 2010 melting season, when large regions with holes showed up in the middle of the ice pack.

So this cyclone is the big news of the melting season so far.

http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2013/06/asi-2013-update-2-shaken-and-stirred.html

[pscot]

1. Update conclusion: (from the link)

Despite a slow decrease in extent and area in the past two weeks, caused by clouds and cold air temperatures over large parts of the Arctic, the ice is taking a beating from the shifting cyclone and it's not sure yet what the damage from internal bruising will be.

The cyclone itself has grabbed its 15 minutes of fame by refusing to go down. I initially called it the Small Arctic Cyclone of 2013, but fellow-blogger Robertscribbler has already given it a more appropriate name: Persistent Arctic Cyclone of 2013. Rocky Balboa would be a good name too.

With the forecast of an atmospheric set-up that is more conducive to ice melt, compaction and transport, it looks like extent and area numbers are going to drop off the Cliff (as it's called on the Forum). In fact, this seems to have started already.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Any word on the extent of saline mixing?

That is, how much of the ice pack is being eaten from below?