Just a little note on 'melt seasons'.
In the past the basin consisted of ice of many ages, some of it , over the last century, glacial from the collapse of the Basins ice shelf. each of these ice types melted at different rates and came in a plethora of shapes and sizes.
The Modern Arctic is moving toward an isostatic plain of 2m FY ice (we see the share of FY ice grow each year) and so more and more of the basin melts out at a similar rate.
This explains why , in recent years, we have seen 'The Cliff' develop over June/July with huge swathes of ice 'blinking out' over a period of days (as was about to occur to the million we saw go during GAC12?).
Though folk may be applauding a 'slow start' to the season this year it will not impact the fate of the majority of the FY ice (which , much like the ice in Hudson Bay, is incapable of lasting through an average season). We saw this type of melt occur in the NW Passage last July ( all FY ice) even as some of our commentators were telling us it would not be open due to the thickness of the pack there?
The mangling of the central basin has fatally wounded large swathes of ice that could have lasted the season ( had it not been so badly mauled) and the rest of the basin is FY ice about to come under 'the blowtorch' from the rapidly heating lands that surround it.
We are now to see a 'Di-Pole' set up and i have to wonder how the well broken ( read 'highly mobile') ice to it's rear will respond to this forcing?
I am very sorry to post such info but i believe that folk would be quite disturbed if the 'reassurances' they are being fed lead them into a false sense of security only to see the worst occur over a period of a few summer weeks in the basin.
Koyaanisqatsi
ko.yaa.nis.katsi (from the Hopi language), n. 1. crazy life. 2. life in turmoil. 3. life disintegrating. 4. life out of balance. 5. a state of life that calls for another way of living.
VIRESCIT VULNERE VIRTUS