In the NWP region,
multi-year ice distribution patterns suggest that the coming year will only see limited openings in the northern parts of the route.
Not exact matches
Spatial
distribution of
multi-year ice concentration (in tenths) within the Western Parry Channel region of the Northwest Passage at the end of May.
Howell and Agnew make the point that the
ice in the NWP and the surrounding regions is mobile during the summer, and as a result the spatial
distribution of
multi-year ice at the beginning of the season can be used to predict whether or not the NWP could be
ice - free in September.
This is to some degree consistent with the Maslanik outlook based on the
distribution of
multi-year ice.
It is unfortunate that maps of
multi-year sea
ice distribution for 2010 derived from QuikSCAT (provided by Nghiem) are no longer available to compare with sea
ice age calculations, as in previous years.
Figure 1: Spatial
distribution of
multi-year ice (in tenths) within the Western Parry Channel region of the Northwest Passage on May 1st for a heavy
ice year (2004), a light year
ice (1999) and the last three years.