VIIRS Infrared images from Suomi-NPP and NOAA-21 (above) showed widespread ice leads in the Chukchi Sea during the 3-day period from 06-08 January 2026. A combination of surface wind stress and ocean currents influenced the motion and evolution of these ice leads.Surface analyses (below) showed a tighter pressure gradient across the... Read More

Spring has clearly sprung in the blog’s home base of Madison, Wisconsin, in the upper midwestern United States, with air temperatures and the activity of both animals (like migratory birds) and people (like joggers) showing that the winter of 2024-2025 is no more. The memories of the cold, icy conditions... Read More

A sequence of Suomi-NPP VIIRS Visible images (above) showed the formation of large ice leads in the eastern Beaufort Sea — as well as the growth of a polynya adjacent to the coast near the Alaska/Yukon border — during the 5-day period from 07-11 March 2025.Suomi-NPP VIIRS Shortwave Infrared images... Read More

10-minute Full Disk scan True Color RGB images from GOES-18 (GOES-West), GOES-17, GOES-19 (Preliminary/Non-operational) and GOES-16 (GOES-East) created using Geo2Grid (above) showed the slow drift of nearshore ice and the more rapid motion of lake effect clouds across southern Lake Michigan on 18th February 2025.The respective satellite locations over the Equator at... Read More