http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr2/antarctic_AMSR2_nic.png
Update on my earlier suggestions about big lumps of ice in the Antarctic. Take a look on the right hand side of yesterday's AMSR2 image. Around 80E, 62S: I can't find the satellite imagery yet, but if we are to believe the picture, there's a HUGE chunk of ice (I don't know how thick, continuous or potentially persistent it might be) free-floating there. If this was a single entity iceberg it would be hundreds of miles across. I don't think it is likely to be so. Looking closely around the coastline nearby, more big chunks are likely to be liberated shortly.
I don't think there's any risk associated with these at the moment, I just find them interesting. There's probably precedent, too, but I'm too lazy to go check.
It's probably just a function of an overactive imagination, but looking at the AMSR2 map of Antarctic sea ice (as one does), I get a 'feeling':
http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr2/antarctic_AMSR2_nic.png
I sort of know that it isn't unusual for the sea ice to decline around the coasts a little quicker than it does in the middle of the 'pack', but it seems early in the melt season to see open water or low concentrations indicated at the level implied by the image.
Looking a little closer, a neurotic might note the correlation between the areas of lower coastal concentration and the glacier zones.
It would be useful for a Cryosphere/Antarctic specialist to call in and provide some reassurance, because right at this moment, I gotta feeling, and it's mainly anxiety.
