Tags
Arctic Ocean, Beaches, Jelly Fish, Laguna Beach, Ocean, Photograph, Photos, Pictures
I’m busy flying about with a small cadre of students (got to catch up on some comments from earlier posts), but I thought I’d share a couple photos with a nice bit of contrast. Okay, so this many jelly-fish isn’t a common sight on our beach, but then again neither is my friend Lauri.
Laguna beach, June 2013
North Slope, July 2013
northierthanthou 
Woo, the first shot is interesting. Did use a circular polarizer?
I didn’t, actually. I tend to leave my camera on auto, because I will only screw up the fancy buttons. One day I will try doing the real stuff.
All direct knowledge about the North Slope of Alaska I get pretty much comes from your images and writings. I find it informative and fascinating.
I did not know there are jellyfish in the Arctic Ocean… let alone so many!
I also see in the image that it looks like ice is still just offshore. It that true, or is it just a fog bank? In your experience, how does the ice retreat this summer compare to years past?
Hi AZ,
My knowledge of the environment up here is still taking shape. We have ice in the water, a lot more than I expected, especially since the main sheet broke off in may, stranding some whalers. I’ve been hearing talk that it’s from the melting glaciers in Greenland, but that may be a yarn. One thing I have found is that the ocean East of Barrow Point will fill up with chunks of floating ice while the ocean West of the point will be relatively clear. Then if the current is right, the ice will flow out westward. This quantity of small chunks this close in July doesn’t match the previous two years; how uncommon it may be I don’t know.
Thanks for your insights. Again, I learned something new.
Your students may enjoy a very cool tool showing sea ice extent at a website called “The Cryosphere Today” maintained by the U of Illinois.
It lets you do side-by-side comparisons showing the arctic sea ice extent on two different dates. You just enter the two dates you want to compare. It is fun to pick and chose your own comparisons.
As you are probably aware, last September saw the smallest arctic ocean ice sheet ever measured during the satellite era. That data goes back to 1979.
It is clear from satellite records that the arctic ocean ice sheet has shrank dramatically since 1979.
A very startling demonstration of the change can be seen visually using the tool. It displays real data.
For example, this stunning display compares the ice sheet extent on September 20th, 1980 with September 20th, 2012:
http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?fm=09&fd=20&fy=1980&sm=09&sd=20&sy=2012
September 20th, 2012 is the date of the smallest Arctic Ocean ice sheet extent ever measured. September 20, 1980 is only 32 years earlier!
Thank you for the link, AZ. I and a colleague are looking for such things now.
Wow, do I have catching up to do – sorry about that. Life keeps getting in the way and stealing my time.