As if things couldn't get any wilder, here's an iceberg floating in a polynya.
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A polynya is a massive hole in Antarctic sea ice, which can grow the size of South Carolina or larger.
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A. Believe it or not, there is one: POLYNYA, a geological term for an area of open water surrounded by ice.
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In 2016 and 2017, a hole of open water, called a polynya, appeared in the winter ice of the Weddell Sea in Antarctica.
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The size and frequency of the offshore polynya are not closely correlated with temperatures, suggesting a more complex mechanism drives its formation process.
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While salinity and storm intensity varies from year to year, the polynya always appears around the same place in the eastern Weddell Sea.
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As for the elephant seals, the team used them to transmit data back to shore as they swam in the depths of the polynya.
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" "We thought this large hole in the sea ice -- known as a polynya -- was something that was rare, maybe a process that had gone extinct.
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Scientists have speculated the polynya could offer greater understanding of the processes controlling Antarctic circulation, and how the Southern Ocean is changing due to human-caused climate change.
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The hole first attracted the attention of scientists in the mid-1970s, when early Earth-observation satellites recorded a polynya the size of New Zealand in the frozen sea.
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Beginning in 2016, the first large polynya in decades showed up in the Weddell Sea, creating an area of open water that eventually reached the size of South Carolina.
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The measurements revealed that the Weddell Sea recently experienced saltier waters and stronger storms than usual, which are likely the key triggers for polynya formation, according to Campbell's team.
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The polynya — a vast area of open water that should be covered by ice, but isn't — formed in the Weddell Sea and covers an area of 16,423 square miles.
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The massive "polynya," which is the term for an area of open water surrounded by sea ice, occasionally appears in the Weddell Sea in the Antarctic northwest, seemingly at random.
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But nonetheless, their study revealed that melt rates at the Ross Sea Polynya, a region located at the northwest edge of the shelf, are an order of magnitude above the shelf-wide average.
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The Weddell polynya is part of a natural cycle, but this year's hole is the biggest it's been since it was first spotted in the 1970s, reappearing last year for the first time in four decades.
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"This study shows that this polynya is actually caused by a number of factors that all have to line up for it to happen," said co-author Stephen Riser, a UW professor of oceanography, in a statement.
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In the area where the giant polynya opened up, there is an underwater mountain that, when met with strong storms, causes a swirl of sea water, churning saltier water from deeper parts of the ocean up to the top.
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A government official from the region said the noise was "emanating from the seafloor," and that it was happening in a major hunting area called a polynya—an area of open water surrounded by ice where sea mammals like to congregate.
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The Weddell Polynya, or Weddell Sea Polynya, is a polynya or irregular area of open water surrounded by sea ice in the Weddell Sea of the Southern Ocean off Antarctica and near the Maud Rise.
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In certain winter months, the general atmospheric circulation around Antarctica exhibits a strong zonal wave 3 pattern which favor the development of polar cyclones closer to the coast i.e. over preconditioned oceanographic areas for polynya formation such as the Weddell Polynya in the Lazarev Sea and the Cosmonaut polynya in the Cosmonaut Sea around Antarctica.
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Satellite image of North Water Polynya in May 2015 Concentrated phytoplankton productivity in the North Water on June 14, 2016Worldview at NASA The North Water Polynya or Pikialasorsuaq in Greenlandic (NOW) is a polynya (area of year-round open water surrounded by sea ice) that lies between Greenland and Canada in northern Baffin Bay. The world's largest Arctic polynya at about , it creates a warm microclimate that provides a refuge for narwhal, beluga, walrus, and bowhead whales to feed and rest. While thin ice forms in some areas, the polynya is kept open by wind, tides and an ice bridge on its northern edge. Named the "North Water" by 19th century whalers who relied on it for spring passage, this polynya is one of the most biologically productive marine areas in the Arctic Ocean.
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Paper 106.Bâcle, J. 2000. The physical oceanography of waters under the North Water Polynya. McGill University.
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Between 1973 and 1986, several polynyas have occurred in these waters, with the totally enclosed Cosmonaut polynya attaining a maximum size on July 25, 1980, with an open water area of as much as 137,700 km2. This polynya lasted for several weeks before disappearing on August 16, 1980.
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The size of New Zealand, it re-occurred each winter between 1974 and 1976. These were the first three austral winters observed by the Nimbus-5 Electrically Scanning Microwave Radiometer (ESMR). From 1976 to 2015 this polynya was rarely observed. The polynya reoccurred in 2016, and has since appeared in 2017.
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The Weddell Sea Polynya has not been observed since the event witnessed by the Nimbus satellites in the mid-70s.
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Between May and July (sometimes April), a significant portion of navigable open water (polynya) forms at the extreme north of the bay, presumably due to the relatively warm Greenland Current. With an area of about in summer, it is the largest polynya of the Canadian Arctic and covers the Smith Sound between the Ellesmere Island and Greenland. This polynya has a stable position and existed for at least 9,000 years. It was first described in 1616 by William Baffin and was named North Water by whalers of the 18–19th centuries.
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The North Water Polynya (Saqvaaq) is closely connected to Lancaster Sound (Inuktitut ᑕᓪᓗᕈᑎᐅᑉ ᑕᕆᐅᖓ Tallurutiup TariungaThe Canadian Northwest Passage? Taissumani. Nunatsiaq News 2009-12-17 Kenn Harper) and Baffin Bay by a powerful system of ocean currents that directly affect the region's climate and biology. In a sense the NOW polynya is a result of the merging of three smaller polynya's Smith Sound, Lady Ann Strait, and Lancaster Sound. The West Greenland Current follows that country's coastline and moves warm and salty Atlantic water north, reaching all the way to the North Water Polynya.
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Coastal polynyas are produced in the Antarctic by katabatic winds upright A frosty Arctic condensation plume marks this polynya near the west shore of Hudson Bay. This one (and others nearby) are likely kept open by tidal currents. Mile-high west-facing aerial view. A polynya () is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice.
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ICC to consult Inuit on future of North Water polynya. In April 2017 a Canadian report entitled “A new Shared Arctic Leadership Model” by Mary Simon recommended that Canada accept the Pikialasorsuaq Commission's recommendation for the creation of an Inuit-led management plan and monitoring process for the entire North Water Polynya and consider recognizing the region as an IPA (Indigenous Protected Area). An Inuit strategy for the future of Pikialasorsuaq.
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Circulation and generation of the North Water Polynya, Northern Baffin Bay. (PDF) . Retrieved on 2013-03-22. Most of the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region.
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A polynya forms in Cardigan Strait most winters, used by wintering Bearded and Ringed seals, polar bears, and walrus. It's also frequented in the early portion of the breeding season by seabirds.
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The 2010s occurrence has been smaller than the 1970s occurrence, being about the size of Maine in 2017, or roughly . Since the 1970s, the polar Southern Ocean south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current has freshened and stratified, likely a result of anthropogenic climate change. Such stratification may be responsible for suppressing the return of the Weddell Sea polynya. More recently, it was found that intense cyclones occurring over the ice pack, far south from the ice edge, were at the origin of the reoccurrence of the Weddell or Maud Rise Polynya in austral winter 2017.
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Among the most serendipitous discoveries that the Nimbus missions made possible was that of a gaping hole in the sea ice around Antarctica in the Southern Hemisphere winters of 1974–76. In a phenomenon that has not been observed since, an enormous, ice-free patch of water, called a polynya, developed three years in a row in the seasonal ice that encases Antarctica each winter. Located in the Weddell Sea, each year the polynya vanished with the summer melt, but returned the following year. The open patch of water may have influenced ocean temperatures as far down as 2,500 meters and influenced ocean circulation over a wide area.
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Cape Vera is an uninhabited headland on Devon Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut, Canada. Protruding off the island's northwestern Colin Archer Peninsula, it faces Jones Sound. Often, a polynya forms in the Cardigan Strait, a waterway that separates the cape from North Kent Island.
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An upwelling of warmer water in this polynya helps keep it partially ice-free throughout the year, even when the ocean directly north and south is frozen. Another arm of the West Greenland Current reaches into Lancaster Sound, delivering Atlantic waters into the Arctic Ocean and contributing to that area's rich ecology.
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In the centre a Russian mother cradles her dying soldier son. The monument has an inscription saying "900 days 900 nights". An exhibit underneath the monument contains artifacts from this period, such as journals. In later years, smaller-scale objects were added, such as memorial plaques to sources of water – a Siege-time Water-well and a river Ice-hole (Rus. polynya).
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Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of Australia, Vol 12 no 2 1867–1868 pp 92–113 On the Exploration of the North Polar Regionpolynya, Merriam Webster Dictionary There are two main types of polynyas: coastal polynyas, which can be found year-round near the Antarctic and Arctic coasts and are mainly created by strong winds pushing the ice away from the coast, and mid-sea or open-ocean polynyas, which may be found more sporadically in the middle of ice pack in certain locations, especially around Antarctica. These locations are generally preconditioned by certain oceanic dynamics. One of the most famous mid-sea polynyas is the Weddell Polynya or the Maud Rise Polynya, which occurs in the Lazarev Sea over the Maud Rise seamount. It was first spotted in September 1973 and persisted through multiple winters (1974–1976), and recently recurred in September 2017.
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Helen Bostock, an oceanographer, is based at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand. Her research focus is mainly around past, present and future conditions in the Southern Ocean. In 2011 she led a research voyage on board the RV Tangaroa to the Solander Trough region of the Tasman Sea. Two years later she was deputy voyage leader for an expedition to the Mertz Polynya, Antarctica.
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It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea. The narrower Nares Strait connects Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean. The bay is not navigable most of the year because of the ice cover and high density of floating ice and icebergs in the open areas. However, a polynya of about , known as the North Water, opens in summer on the north near Smith Sound.
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Oden was in Antarctica between 4 December 2010 and 20 January 2011. The expedition investigated the ice, biology, oceanography, and biogeochemistry of the Amundsen Sea Polynya. There was a controversy that Oden was not assisting the shipping in Swedish waters, which had problems in the unusually cold winter. The Swedish government decided to keep Oden at home for the season 2011-2012 which turned out to be unusually mild.
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In 1970 he changed to ETH Zurich, where he became Head of the Institute of Geography and started the investigation of the North Water Polynya in Baffin Bay. Müller also worked on the glacier inventories of the Swiss Alps and the world. He became director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service. In 1980 Fritz Müller died due to a heart attack during a field excursion for journalists on the Rhône Glacier in Switzerland.
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When submarines of the U.S. Navy made expeditions to the North Pole in the 1950s and 1960s, there was significant concern about surfacing through the thick pack ice of the Arctic Ocean. In 1962, both the USS Skate and USS Seadragon surfaced within the same large polynya near the North Pole for the first polar rendezvous of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet and the U.S. Pacific Fleet.Tales of a Cold War Submariner by Dan Summitt, 2004.
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Despite appearing to be loyal to Captain Crozier, he has secretly fallen in with Hickey's band. He conducts an elaborate, and rather humorous, subterfuge to lure Crozier and Dr Goodsir to the Hickey ambush site (his attempts to pronounce the word polynya: polyp and polyanna, exasperate Captain Crozier). Golding eventually dies along with the rest of Hickey's compatriots. ;Lady Silence (Silna) :A young Inuit woman who has a mysterious link to the Tuunbaq.
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Grease ice in the Bering Sea Grease ice is a very thin, soupy layer of frazil crystals clumped together, which makes the ocean surface resemble an oil slick. Grease ice is the second stage in the formation of solid sea ice after ice floes and then frazil ice. New sea ice formation takes place throughout the winter in the Arctic. The first ice that forms in a polynya are loose ice crystals called frazil ice.
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The manoeuvre worked in that Nautilus submerged, and became the first submarine to operate under the polar ice cap. However, her unconventional method of diving caused significant damage to her upper works. She was out of radio contact for days, was presumed lost, and rescue efforts were planned. In fact, she had actually travelled only a short distance under the ice before resurfacing through a polynya, but her radios had been badly damaged, requiring days to repair.
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Since the beginning of its activities in 2003, ArcticNet researchers have published more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific publications and 2,300 other publications. The total contributions of ArcticNet researchers – presentations, publications and other communications exceeds 3,700. The ArcticNet Publications Database includes publications from the ArcticNet, Canadian Arctic Shelf Exchange Study (CASES) and International North Water Polynya Study (NOW) research projects. It provides complete coverage of more than 2,400 peer-reviewed publications and partial coverage of over 800 other publications.
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The frozen Laptev Sea. Thinning of the ice reveals blue and green water color. New Siberian Islands are near the middle and the Great Siberian Polynya is in the left part of the image. The Laptev Sea is a major source of arctic sea ice. With an average outflow of 483,000 km2 per year over the period 1979–1995, it contributes more sea ice than the Barents Sea, Kara Sea, East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea combined.
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In May 2004 and 2005, electromagnetic measurements from helicopters revealed insights into the thickness of the sea ice in the Lincoln Sea and surrounding waters. With thicknesses ranging between 3.9 and 4.2 m, multi-year ice dominates south of 84°N. First-year ice, with thicknesses ranging between 0.9 and 2.2 m, denotes the refreezing of the Lincoln Polynya ice. These helicopter measurements concur with satellite-based radar imagery as well as ground-based electromagnetic observations.
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Bloom in the Ross Sea, January 2011 The Ross Sea circulation, dominated by polynya processes, is in general very slow-moving. Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) is a relatively warm, salty and nutrient-rich water mass that flows onto the continental shelf at certain locations in the Ross Sea. Through heat flux, this water mass moderates the ice cover. The near-surface water also provides a warm environment for some animals and nutrients to excite primary production.
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Zyryanov, p. 76 Previously, in early February Toll received a note from the Academy of Sciences instructing him to limit the expedition to explorations of New Siberian Islands and terminate it in the mouth of the Lena. Matisen returned on 17 April 1902, reporting that 7 miles away from Kotelny Island he ran into a polynya and turned back. On 29 April, Birulya with three Yakuts was sent to New Siberia to assist the planned voyage of Zarya to Bennett Island.
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Nuuk is the fifth solo album from German ambient music producer, Thomas Köner. Originally released in 1997 as a part of the Driftworks 4-CD box set (along with albums from Nijiumu, Pauline Oliveros & Randy Raine-Reusch and Paul Schütze), it was re-released in 2004 by Mille Plateaux with a DVD containing films made from still images to accompany the music. Nuuk is the capital city of Greenland. Polynya is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice.
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Gedenschtrom established the presence of the Siberian polynya – patches of open water in sea ice at the edge of the drifting ice and continental fast ice. In 1809, Gedenschtrom visited the eastern shores of an island, discovered by merchants Semyon and Lev Syrovatsky three years earlier, and named it New Siberia (this name would be officially endorsed in 1810). Gedenschtrom charted the coastline between the mouths of the rivers Yana and Kolyma. He also made many trips across Yakutia and areas east of the Lake Baikal.
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In the Southern Ocean, strong katabatic winds blowing from the Antarctic continent onto the ice shelves will blow the newly formed sea ice away, opening polynyas along the coast. The ocean, no longer protected by sea ice, suffers a brutal and strong cooling (see polynya). Meanwhile, sea ice starts reforming, so the surface waters also get saltier, hence very dense. In fact, the formation of sea ice contributes to an increase in surface seawater salinity; saltier brine is left behind as the sea ice forms around it (pure water preferentially being frozen).
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The existence of the polynya attracts a wide variety of sea life, numerous species of whales and seals inhabit the area, and the village is situated along the main spring migration route of the Bowhead whale, the target of the majority of the Yupik inhabitants hunting. To the east of the village, the Imtuk Lagoon is rich in fish and the inhabitants catch cod during the winter and salmon in the summer. there are also a wide range of different bird species that nest in the high cliffs surrounding the village, including puffins and gulls.
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The settlement was founded in the late 17th century by Yakuts. Its name derives from the Yakut language word Kheymchen, meaning Polynya. In the 19th century, the trade route between the Kolyma region and the Sea of Okhotsk, the Ola-Kolyma-Trakt was constructed through the settlement. Economic development of the settlement increased with the opening of the first gold mines in 1931, and the discovery and later exploitation of brown coal reserves at Elgen in 1932, tin reserves in 1937 and cobalt ore in the early 1940s.
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The range of underwater vision is usually limited by turbidity. In very clear water visibility may extend as far as about 80m, and a record Secchi depth of 79 m has been reported from a coastal polynya of the Eastern Weddell Sea, Antarctica. In other sea waters, Secchi depths in the 50 to 70 m range have occasionally been recorded, including a 1985 record of 53 m in the Eastern and up to 62 m in the tropical Pacific Ocean. This level of visibility is seldom found in surface freshwater.
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Some polynyas, such as the North Water Polynya between Canada and Greenland, occur seasonally at the same time and place each year. Because animals can adapt their life strategies to this regularity, these types of polynyas are of special ecological research significance. In winter, marine mammals such as walruses, narwhals, and belugas that do not migrate south remain there. In spring, the thin or absent ice cover allows light to penetrate the surface layer as soon as the winter night ends, which triggers the early blooming of microalgae at the basis of the marine food chain.
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It results in a large continuous sheet of ice, with the thickness up to in the south-eastern part of the sea as well as near the coast. The coastal sheet ends at the water depth of 20–25 m which occurs at several hundred kilometers from the shore, thus this coastal ice covers some 30% of the sea area. Ice is drifting north to this coastal band, and several polynyas are formed by the warm south winds around there. They have various names, such as the Great Siberian Polynya, and can stretch over many hundreds kilometers.
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Within 2 weeks the Mertz Iceberg rotated about the point of impact with B9-B and lay parallel with the coastline.European Space Agency Envisat radar images The iceberg drifted westwards after the collision and in April 2010 hit a submerged peak which caused it to break into two pieces.Australian Antarctic Division News updateLatest National Ice Center pictures The flow of icebergs from the calved glacier tongue has reduced the effectiveness of the polynya west of Mertz Glacier that acted as one of Antarctica's major areas for the formation of dense Antarctic Bottom Water. The calving could affect future thermohaline circulation around Antarctica.
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Finally ten sleds led by Mylius Eriksen left Danmarkshavn at the end of March 1907, heading north on the coastal ice. Along Jokel Bay, where the Greenland ice sheet comes down to the sea buckling and cracking the ice near the shore, travelling was difficult and sleds broke and had to be continually repaired. The harsh ice conditions continued along Hovgaard Island further north. At Mallemuk Mountain in SE Holm Land the coastal ice of the Dijmphna Sound gave way to a polynya and, as the sleds tried to find a way around the open water, the first supporting party returned to Danmarkshavn.
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If the level of turbulence is sufficient, the frazil ice will be mixed down into the upper layer and form a surface layer of grease ice. The term ‘grease ice’ follows World Meteorological Organization nomenclature. Grease ice differs from ‘slush’, where slush is similarly created by snow falling into the top layer of an ocean basin, river, or lake. The two terms are related due to the process of ice crystals being blown into a polynya which can be the initiation of the grease ice layer, given a minimum level of mixing and cooling of the ocean surface.
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Twelve percent of the world's land is protected, but only 1.6 percent of the global ocean area is protected.Protected Planet Report 2012 In a time of increasing Arctic industrial activity the waters of the North Water polynya have not been given any formal protection. In 1982 the western waters in Lancaster Sound were listed as one of the greatest 188 natural areas in the world, and one of the only sites in the Arctic to get this recognition. Two sites within Lancaster Sound were chosen as the top 219 "The World's Greatest Natural Areas"The World's Greatest Natural Areas by international work groups that met from 1980-1982.
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The placement of the settlement owes much to a sizeable polynya at the shore of the village, allowing the inhabitants to hunt all year round. The village is situated north of Cape Stoletiya and Southeast of Cape ZelyonyPark Areas - Sireniki Nature Ethnic Park Beringia on the coast where the Maingyvykvyn, Sirenik-Keivuk and Sineveyem empty into the sea. There are numerous high cliffs surrounding the village, some of which have been named by the local people with poetic names such as "Sokol" (falcon) and "Yablochko" (little apple). Nearby is a marine grotto called "Sochi" after the Black Sea resort, which the villagers use for swimming in the summer.
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Excavations at many sites along the coast of the district, including present-day localities such as Enmelen, Nunligran, Yanrakynnot, and Sireniki, indicate an abundance of food as well as indicating a considerable degree of continuity in terms of indigenous settlement. As a result, the southeastern part of the coast is home to a large number of Beringian monuments and archaeological sites, with the area around Arakamchechen Island, Yttygran Island, and the Senyavin Straits having been given protected area status as part of the Beringia Park. Providensky District also includes Yttygran Island, which features an area known as "Whale Bone Alley", where the jaw bones and ribs of Bowhead whales are arranged on the beach. There is also a large, permanent polynya near Sireniki.
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Gerardus Mercator's map of the North Pole from 1595 C.G. Zorgdragers map of the North Pole from 1720 As early as the 16th century, many prominent people correctly believed that the North Pole was in a sea, which in the 19th century was called the Polynya or Open Polar Sea. It was therefore hoped that passage could be found through ice floes at favorable times of the year. Several expeditions set out to find the way, generally with whaling ships, already commonly used in the cold northern latitudes. One of the earliest expeditions to set out with the explicit intention of reaching the North Pole was that of British naval officer William Edward Parry, who in 1827 reached latitude 82°45′ North. In 1871, the Polaris expedition, a US attempt on the Pole led by Charles Francis Hall, ended in disaster.
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