February 19, 2014 — Like a wayward superstorm in a warming world comes this curveball of an observation: The frigid Bering Sea at the Arctic Ocean’s door has gotten colder and icier in recent decades.
That’s according to scientists at the Alaska Climate Research Center who reviewed 33 years of sea ice records in the Bering Sea, the body of water between Russia and Alaska where the ice melts each spring and begins forming again in October.
The growth in Bering Sea ice between 1979 and 2012 was small, but it stands in stark contrast to the substantial loss of summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean to the north, according to the report.
“(That) is in strong contrast to the Arctic Ocean, where a substantial decrease in sea ice has been observed, accompanied by higher temperatures,” the report said.
It’s no secret that the Bering Sea, home to some of the nation’s most valuable fisheries, has been nippy in recent years. Two years ago, the sea ice famously locked out crab fishermen and necessitated a fuel delivery using international icebreakers designed to ensure Nome could keep its heat on all winter.
To get a long-term view, researchers reviewed microwave satellite imagery of the sea ice forming in autumn and moving south as winter progressed, becoming thickest in March.
The ice cover was “pronounced” in four of the 33 years, including 1992, 1999 and 2009. Ice was thickest in 2012, covering an average of 109,000 square miles, an area slightly larger than Colorado.
Read the full story at the Alaska Dispatch