Increasing ice concentration in Hudson Bay

By Scott Bachmeier • 21 November 2018

Daily sea ice concentration derived from AMSR2 data, 06-21 November [click to play animation | MP4]

After increasingly colder air began moving from eastern Nunavut across Hudson Bay beginning on 06 November (surface analyses), the daily sea ice concentration as derived from GCOM-W1 AMSR2 data (source) began to increase in the northern half of Hudson Bay (above) — especially after 15 November once mid-day (18 UTC) temperatures colder than -20ºF were seen at reporting stations along the northwest coast.

A sequence of daily Terra/Aqua MODIS True Color Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images (source) showed signatures of the increasing of ice coverage.

Daily Terra/Aqua MODIS True Color RGB images, 06-21 November [click to play animation | MP4]

A toggle between Terra MODIS True Color and False Color RGB images on 21 November (below) confirmed that much of the northern half of Hudson Bay contained ice — snow/ice (as well as ice crystal clouds) appear as darker shades of red in the False Color image (in contrast to the cyan shades of supercooled water droplet clouds).

Terra MODIS True Color and False Color RGB images on 21 November [click to enlarge]

19 November maps of Ice Concentration, Ice Stage and Departure from Normal via the Canadian Ice Service (below) further characterized this ice formation, which was ahead of normal for the central portion of Hudson Bay.