Ice Motion and Ice Area Flux in Fram Strait at 79N using SAR and passive microwave for Aug. 2004 – July 2014.

Measurements of profiles of : 1) ice displacement by Envisat and Radarsat SAR images and 2) ice concentration by DMSP SSMI, SSMIS, AMSR-E and AMSR-2 are made in consecutive time intervals, generally each of 3 days duration. The resulting ice area flux across 79N (the “Fram Strait flux-gate”) is computed for each time interval. They are then added to get longer period (monthly and yearly) area flux values. The average yearly ice area flux for 10 years between Aug.2004 and July 2014 has been computed to be 0.95 million square km. The ice-yearly flux has increased markedly during these 10 years, from 0.67 million square km in 2004-05 to a maximum of 1.17 in 2011-12.