PIOMAS December 2014

The PIOMAS data for December 2014 is now out. So here is the usual summary. I start with the usual map plots of thickness, this time I've done an animated gif for September to December thickness.

PIOMAS September 2014: Massive Volume Gain

The story of the 2014 melt season has been one of unexpected ice survival due to weather being largely unfavourable for largescale ice melt. Now, after a delay to NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the PIOMAS volume data is out and it is possible to see how much volume gain will be carried over into the 2014/15 winter, and very likely beyond.

PIOMAS August 2014

 PIOMAS August data is now out, this is the last monthly status post for 2014. More analysis of this highly unusual year will follow, and occasional commentary on the coming freeze season will follow. But now that the melt season is essentially over there are other sea ice related matter I want to get onto.

PIOMAS? Too busy...

I'm too busy to do a proper write up on the August PIOMAS data, that will remain the case until Sunday. So until then here's one graphic from the August PIOMAS gridded data, I think it puts the significance of 2014 into its proper perspective.

That is a massive slug of thicker ice going into the 2014/15 winter. The derived data has been updated, link, but the daily data has not been updated as gridded hasn't, that doesn't come each month.

2014 Melt Season Review

I've decided not to await the actual minimum for 2014 to do a post on the season. Now that virtually all the data is in and I've had an afternoon off to do the bulk of the work, here is my 2014 season summary.

PIOMAS July 2014

PIOMAS data is now out and the picture of another year of muted melt is confirmed. As of this June the net volume impact of the 2010 volume loss event has been wiped out. However this does not equate to a recovery of thickness or volume across the Arctic. Those still holding out for a crash this year are flogging a dead horse, those expecting a crash by around 2016 are walking towards the same horse, whip in hand.

The regional PIOMAS Data and Thickness Plots that I produce are now updated. See the top right panel on the blog for links.

July 2014 Status

July continues a year of moderate loss compared to the long term average. 2014 is very likely to repeat the high extent in 2013.

18 June to 18 July 2014

As discussed previously, on 18 June 2014 the weather shifted, the early June delayed start to the melt season came to an end and the melt season started in earnest. Now data is available for 18 July 2014, so I'm giving a brief summary of the sea ice situation one month on.

Mid July Status

This post is really a very late June Status Part 3 because my day job is crowding out this hobby, but rather than restrict to June PIOMAS data, I've added in some extent data to drag it into mid July. So, I'm sorry but that means it's dauntingly long, although I tried to keep the words to a minimum and let the graphs convey message.

June PIOMAS data, 2014 prediction - Correction.

This is a rewrite and re-issue of the blog post entitled June PIOMAS data, 2014 prediction revised upward.

Due to increased workload in my day job I've been working late while tired, and in rushing to make the July Sea Ice Prediction Network submission date, I made an error in the spreadsheet. So my 4.7M to 5.1M km^2 prediction was wrong. By now I've missed the deadline and this morning emailed SIPN to ask that my submission be withdrawn as I wouldn't have the chance to re-write it.

The data I provide derived from PIOMAS gridded data has now been updated for June. Daily gridded data has not been updated this month, so the daily regional volume file is not updated. Data are available from this blog post, which also explains the data.

For those who have already read the original post, scroll down to the heading Correction.

June Status: Part 2.

This is filler post before we get the PIOMAS data. Wipneus has calculated regional breakdowns of NSIDC extent based on their gridded data, something I started doing but couldn't work out the correct ocean masking to use. Anyway that issue has been solved, Wipneus has been doing the number crunching and has let me have the data.

June Status: Part 1

Crucial to what I think will happen later this season is the PIOMAS data, as I wait for that the NCEP/NCAR data is now updated, and of course we have extent and area data. So here's the situation over June.

Watch this space. Part 2.

Back on the 11 June this year I drew attention to a large polnya in the Laptev Sea and suggested it was likely to play a large role in the 2014 melt season. With data available through to 30 June it's time to see how it's going.

2014 is not being handed its hat, it's just getting started.

Hadden: The powers that be have been very busy lately, falling over each other to position themselves for the game of the millennium. Maybe I can help deal you back in.

Ellie: I didn't realize that I was out.

Hadden: Oh... maybe not out, but certainly being handed your hat.

 Contact 1997.

Since posting my rather high prediction on CT Area I've been having doubts about it. A reason to to have confidence in it is the success last year, against the expectations of many including myself. However this year I think CT Area will be at the lower end of the prediction (3.0 to 3.3M km^2), if it is successful, and there is too much of a chance of 2014 being below 3.0 for me to have much confidence in it. The method trains the range to the 2007 to 2013 period, so it is likely overfitted and does not reflect the full range of feasible behaviours after the volume loss events of 2007 and 2010.

CT Area 2014 Prediction

The melt season has started off too late, there will be no CT Area anomaly cliff, and I don't believe that 2012's record will be neared or beaten. However I am making my prediction for CT Area in 2014. CT Area is Cryosphere Today Area, the data is available here.

NOTE - the final part of this blog post has been changed as an error was found in my transformation from CT Area to NSIDC Extent.

Sea Ice Prediction June 2014

Well, it's the 20th of June and CT Area (Cryopsphere Today Area) data for that date is what I've used to make a successful prediction last year. I've also put in a prediction for 2014 September average NSIDC Extent with the Sea Ice Prediction Network, and their June Outlook is now published. Given the weather so far in June, is my SIPN prediction already destined for failure, and what of my June 20th CT Area prediction for 2014?

Mid June 2014 Status

It's been a very slow start to the 2014 melt season, but that doesn't mean a recovery of the sea ice is underway.

Watch this space..

The 'space' in question being the large polnya in the Laptev Sea. My bet is that it will turn out to be one of the most fascinating features of this melt season.

Do Not Press This Button!

Changes in Arctic sea ice are a warning to us, and in my opinion one of the best ways to see the warning is through anomalies.

Anomalies are the difference from a long term average, as usual I use the period 1980 to 1999 (20 years) for my long term average. I work out the average value of the index used for each of the 365 days in a standard year and then deduct this value from each daily value of the series 1979 to the present. This transforms the data from a large sinusoidal wave into the differences from that average sinusoidal seasonal cycle, these differences are called anomalies.


I've previously blogged on this for Cryosphere Today Area (CT Area), but thought it worth updating the graphs, this time including NSIDC Extent.

April 2014 - Start of the new season

If PIOMAS Gridded data is published I will be posting thickness distributions based on grid box effective thickness, and any other resulting comments. However as the main series PIOMAS data is now out it's worth going over some points I want to raise. It's also worth reading Neven's summary of the past winter, and the May PIOMAS update.