Floe edge near Iqaluit closer than usual: Canadian Ice Service – Nunatsiaq.com

May 16, 2018

Percentage of thick, durable multi-year ice has decreased

The sea ice in Frobisher Bay is thinner than usual this time of year, and the floe edge is closer. Flying into Iqaluit, you can see blue open water not far from the city.

The floe edge is now about 30 nautical miles down Frobisher Bay. That’s closer than usual, and it’s not as extensive, confirmed Gilles Langis, a senior ice forecaster with the Canadian Ice Service.

“We’re ahead of the game,” Langis said of the early retreat of ice in Frobisher Bay.

But he said it’s hard to say at this point whether that means the ice will be out of the bay earlier than usual, that is, by some time in mid-July.

Pack ice in the Davis Strait could end up being blown into the bay, as has happened during some summers in the past, he said.

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