Sea ice levels in eastern Canadian Arctic remain below average – Nunatsiaq News
20 July 2020
“We’re looking at two to three weeks ahead at this time of year”
Sea ice in the eastern Canadian Arctic is, once again, melting at an above-average rate compared to the past 50 years of satellite records.
“We’re looking at two to three weeks ahead at this time of year,” said Doug Leonard, a senior ice forecaster with Environment and Climate Change Canada.
The news of below-average ice levels echoes that of last spring, summer and fall.
Areas like Foxe Basin and northern Baffin Bay are the most ahead, but for Leonard, this isn’t unusual.
“As the climate warms and as the climate changes, we’re just seeing earlier and earlier openings in Baffin Bay,” he said.
“In the last 10 years or so, we have been roughly one to two weeks ahead, on average, every year in that opening.”
