08.03.2018Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (AWI)

On thin ice in the warm Arctic - Researchers never measured a smaller ice sheet on the Arctic Ocean in February than in 2018

View on arctic sea ice covered by meltwater ponds in late summer. 
The snow on the Arctic sea ice melts completely each summer - remain ponds of Melt water. In large parts of the Arctic these ponds arise within a few days, often in the first weeks of June. They disappear again only with the freezing of the surface in September. Most of these freshwater ponds measure in diameter between three and 20 meters. Their color depends primarily on the thickness of the ice under the ponds, because the dark (black) ocean then more or less shining through. In thicker, perennial sea ice it is consequently more turquoise, with thinner one-year ice dark blue to black.
View on arctic sea ice covered by meltwater ponds in late summer. 
The snow on the Arctic sea ice melts completely each summer - remain ponds of Melt water. In large parts of the Arctic these ponds arise within a few days, often in the first weeks of June. They disappear again only with the freezing of the surface in September. Most of these freshwater ponds measure in diameter between three and 20 meters. Their color depends primarily on the thickness of the ice under the ponds, because the dark (black) ocean then more or less shining through. In thicker, perennial sea ice it is consequently more turquoise, with thinner one-year ice dark blue to black.© Stefan Hendricks / AWI