Nearshore ice motion in the Beaufort Sea
Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible (0.64 µm) images (above) showed a variety of Beaufort Sea ice floe motion within the nearshore waters of Alaska and Yukon during the 20-21 June 2022 period. Just north of Utqiavik (or Barrow, PABR), a sharp “shear line” was seen on 20 June — with a narrow line of ice flows moving east-northeastward, directly adjacent to the the pack ice that was moving westward.Farther to the east (in the bottom right corner of this satellite scene), a fracture in the fast ice off the Yukon coastline led to the separation of a large ice floe on 21 June — which then drifted west-northwestward. Of note were the unusually warm surface air temperatures at stations near/along the northern coastline of Yukon, with some temperature readings rising into the upper 50s and low 60s F.