![](\"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/images\/2026\/02\/260210_260212_suomiNPP_noaa21_viirs_infrared_Beaufort_Sea_ice_leads_anim.gif\")
<\/a>Suomi-NPP and NOAA-21 VIIRS Infrared Window (11.45 \u00b5m) images, from 1636 UTC on 10 February to 2053 UTC on 12 February [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>VIIRS Infrared images from Suomi-NPP and NOAA-21 (above)<\/em><\/strong> showed widespread ice leads (brighter shades of cyan) in the Beaufort Sea during the 3-day period from 10-12 February 2026 — with a notable increase in ice leads across the eastern Beaufort Sea.<\/p>\n Surface wind stress was the primary influence affecting the motion and evolution of these ice leads. Surface analyses (below)<\/strong><\/em> showed that a tighter pressure gradient developed across the Beaufort Sea during the 3-day period — between high pressure centered over the Siberian Sea and broad cyclonic flow across the Bering Sea and interior\/northern Alaska — which would have induced a stronger easterly flow across much of the VIIRS image domain displayed above.<\/p>\n 6-hourly surface analyses, from 1200 UTC on 10 February to 1800 UTC on 12 February [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>Daily results using an AI-based sea ice lead detection<\/strong><\/a> method covering the entire Arctic Ocean are shown below; the Beaufort Sea is located within the bottom right portion of the images.<\/p>\n<\/a>