{"id":221,"date":"2023-03-15T05:50:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T05:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2023\/03\/15\/facts-about-the-arctic-in-december-2022\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T00:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T22:58:18","slug":"facts-about-the-arctic-in-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcticwatch.info\/index.php\/2023\/03\/15\/facts-about-the-arctic-in-december-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Facts About the Arctic in December 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new month is upon us and Christmas is coming! Here\u2019s another look at Lars Kaleschke\u2019s high resolution AMSR2 area and extent graphs<\/a> for the Arctic as a whole:<\/p>\n

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Extent increase stalled for the last few days of November, and as a result extent is now in a \u201cstatistical tie\u201d with 2017 for 4th lowest extent for the date in the AMSR2 record.<\/p>\n

The AMSR2 concentration map<\/a> reveals that the Chukchi Sea is now mostly refrozen:<\/p>\n

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However over on the Atlantic side of the Arctic there is now more open water than average in the Barents Sea:<\/p>\n

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After a rapid rise at the start of November extent in the Kara Sea has barely increased over the last two weeks:<\/p>\n

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Looking at the third dimension next, here is the latest AWI CryoSat-2\/SMOS<\/a> Arctic sea ice thickness map:<\/p>\n

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Rather than piled up along the north coasts of Greenland and Ellesmere Island as in days gone by, the thickest remaining ice currently appears to be in the Central Arctic north-west of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.<\/p>\n

Finally, for the moment at least, here is the latest CS2\/SMOS volume graph:<\/p>\n

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<\/a>[Edit \u2013 December 4th]<\/strong><\/p>\n

News via the ASIF<\/a> of a recent journal article discussing the \u201cGreat Arctic Winter Cyclone<\/a>\u201d of 2022. In a paper entitled \u201cRecord Arctic Cyclone of January 2022: Characteristics, Impacts, and Predictability<\/a>\u201d Ed Blanchard-Wrigglesworth et al. point out that:<\/p>\n

The cyclone resulted in a record (over the period 1979\u20132022) weekly loss of regional sea ice area and surface wind speeds, and generated ocean waves exceeding 8\u00a0m that impinged on sea ice in the Barents sea, observed via satellite altimetry as large waves-in-sea ice up to 2\u00a0m in amplitude more than 100\u00a0km into the ice pack. Surface heat fluxes were strongly impacted by the cyclone, with record atmosphere-to-surface turbulent fluxes. However, the direct atmospheric thermodynamic impact on sea ice loss was modest, and the record sea ice changes were likely mainly driven by dynamical and\/or ocean processes. While the storm was well predicted up to 8\u00a0days in advance, subsequent changes in sea ice cover were not, likely due to biases in the forecasts\u2019 sea ice initial conditions and missing physics in the forecast model such as wave-sea ice interaction.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Conditions on 24 January at 13:00 UTC, showing SLP (contours) and SIC (shading), panel (a) and significant wave height and direction (panel b). Monthly minimum hourly SLP over 70\u00b0N\u201390\u00b0N and 80\u00b0N\u201390\u00b0N (panels c and d) for all months, January 1979\u2013January 2022. The minimum values during the January 2022 cyclone are shown by the dashed horizontal lines in (c and d). The asterisks denote the 10 extreme cyclones in each domain prior to January 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>[Edit \u2013 December 7th]<\/strong><\/p>\n

PIOMAS Arctic sea ice volume and thickness data<\/a> for November 2022 has been released:<\/p>\n

Average Arctic sea ice volume in November 2022 was 9,700 km3<\/sup>. This value is the 10th lowest on record for November,\u00a0 about\u00a0 1,900 km 3<\/sup> above the\u00a0 low record set in 2016. \u00a0 Monthly\u00a0 ice volume was 51% below the maximum in 1979 and 32% below the mean value for 1979-2021. Average November 2022 ice volume was\u00a01.4 standard deviations above the 1979-2021 trend line\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The ice thickness anomaly map for November 2022 relative to 2011-2020 shows\u00a0 further strengthening\u00a0 of the\u00a0 positive anomalies north of\u00a0 Greenland and\u00a0 along the Canadian Archipelago:<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Here too is the \u201cunofficial\u201d thickness map derived from the gridded thickness data:<\/p>\n

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Note the traditional build up of ice along the northern coast of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago which is absent from this CryoSat-2\/SMOS thickness map:<\/p>\n

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<\/a>[Edit \u2013 December 14th]<\/strong><\/p>\n

The 2022 edition of NOAA\u2019s Arctic Report Card<\/a> has just been published. Here\u2019s an introductory video:<\/p>\n

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