Barrow Sea Ice Radar

The image above is produced by a 10 kW X-band marine radar mounted atop the 4-story bank building in downtown Barrow, Alaska, pointed north.

Sea ice can be detected at ranges of up to about 10km (6 miles). Radar signals are reflected by rough ice, which appears as bright areas in these images. Sea ice ridges appear as lines of bright reflections. Buildings, fences and cars on land also return strong signals.

Images are archived every 5 minutes to monitor processes that shape the landfast ice and last only a few hours. The 1-day animation below shows recent activity. Sometimes, drifting sea ice (pack ice) can be seen moving past the coast while the landfast ice remains stationary close to shore. The 3-day animation below is from the radar record of the last three days.

1-Day Animation

3-Day Animation

Breakout Animations

Breakout Monday May 28 - Tuesday May 29, 2007 (05-28/29-2007 mp4)

Breakout Saturday March 31 - Sunday April 1, 2007 (03-31-2007 mov) (03-31-2007 mp4)

2007 animation with satellite image (03-31/04-01-2007 mov) (03-31/04-01-2007 mp4) (youtube)

1. Movement breaking-up late summer ice (08-06-2006)
2. Circulation of large late summer ice floe (08-10-2006)
3. Breakout during winter freeze-up, December 2006 (12-03-2006)

In these videos, up is offshore (not north) and the fixed features in the bottom of the picture are buildings, and landforms along the Barrow coast. Motion left to right is SW to NE up the coast to Pt. Barrow.