Sea ice in December 2010

The Coast Guard went on 6 ice survey flights this month:

On 7th December the ice edge was closest to land 21.7 nm from Horn, 25.3 nm from Straumnes and 43.6 nm from Barði. The tongue which stretched eastwards, north of Iceland, was scattered. Only towards the west, the ice was quite dense. Large icebergs were seen in the area.

On the 10th, IMO issued a warning saying that the ice edge might move closer to land in the next 24 hrs.

The Coast Guard did an ice survey flight on the 12th. Sea ice was closest to land 31 nm NW of Barði, 25 nm NW of Straumnes, 19 nm NA of Horn and 43 nm NNW of Skagatá. Some floe and strip strayed off the main ice edge.

Another survey was done 13th December: The main ice was closest to land 53 nm WNW of Grímsey, 32 nm NNW of Skagatá, 32 nm ENE of Hornbjarg, 25 nm north of Hornbjarg, 20 nm WNW of Straumnes and 30 nm WNW of Barði.

Surveillance off the Westfjords 18th December revealed that sea ice was much farther away than in last surveillance.

On the 20th an ice survey flight was done on Vesturmið, i.e. the fishing grounds west and nortwest of Iceland. Sea ice was found north off the Westfjords and the main ice was mapped using the surveillance equipment on the aircraft. The main ice edge was far off the Westfjord coast but scattered ice was common in many locations on the Westfjord fishing grounds.

Twelve observations were received from ships this month and also observations from land on an iceberg, approximately 12 km NNE of Litla-Ávík.

Wind directions on the Greenland Strait were westerly in the first half of the month but northeasterly in the latter half of the month.