Sea ice in June 2008

What must be considered most newsworthy is the fact that two polarbears descended upon shore in Skagi.  The first one on June 3rd at Þverárfjall and the latter in Hraun in Skagi on the 16th.  Sea ice was not very close to shore in spite of this and the bears probably had to swim quite far.  The prior bear was seen a few days after the Coast Guard went on an exploration flight on the 29th, when the ice edge came closest to shore some 35n.m. north off Kögur.  Chances are that the bear was on an ice that drifted east and then swam to shore.  On June 3rd a dispatch was made from a ship regarding an ice-edge northwest off shore, or 40n.m. NW off Kögur.  On June 12th the Meteorological office sent a notice regarding sparse ice west off Westfjords, but westerly winds had been prevailing for a few days in the Greenland Strait and likely for a few days more.  Chances were that sea-ice would edge closer to shore.  The Coast Guard went on one exploring flight during the month, on the 18th off the Westfjords.  The ice-edge was then closest to shore about 70n.m. NNW off Straumsnes and there were considerable ice-scatterings from the ice-edge.  Westerly winds were predominant in the Greenland Strait from the 10th to the 15th and then again from the 22nd to the 25th, otherwise a northeasterly wind was predominant in the strait.