Death of a webcam

These are not good days to be a webcam. That is, if you're deployed on a buoy in the Arctic.

Of course, NOAA webcam 1 has been sagging for a while now:

And NOAA webcam 2 has just decided to topple over backwards:

But that's nothing compared to webcam #2 from the Obuoy project that is currently gazing at the sky with lifeless eyes:

Which is a shame really, as it was showing some spectacular images from its position in the Beaufort Sea where there is a lot of ice floe action. I apologize for neglecting to add this webcam to the webcam section of the Arctic sea ice daily graphs page. Luckily Arcticio converted the webcam movie and put it on Youtube:

 

There is some good news though! Obuoy webcam #6 is safe and doing great:

Comments

[Tor Bejnar]

Thanks for giving us something to laugh out loud about!

[Seke Rob]

As for location, is the current location in this map i.e. is webcam 1 / 2 same as noaa1/2?

http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/DriftTrackMap.html

[Neven]

I'm quite certain it is, Seke Rob.

[Seke Rob]

Was confused for a moment as the one that was discussed in the other thread with OBuoy #2 and it's power spiking/battery heating seems to loiter at about 75N.

[Seke Rob]

Was confused for a moment as the one that was discussed in the other thread with OBuoy #2 and it's power spiking/battery heating seems to loiter at about 75N.

[Neven]

Thanks for giving us something to laugh out loud about!

At your service, Tor!

[Daniel Bailey]

That's what I get for being in training for the last 5 days: my post at Skeptical Science on the very same thing is eclipsed by Neven's.

I'm not worthy...

[Neven]

The only thing I can reproach you, Daniel, is failing to mention Obuoy webcam #6. ;-)

[Rob Dekker]

Daniel, please know that your post at skepticalscience is very much appreciated. The more exposure there is to developments in the Arctic, the better.

Also please note that regarding the science, there are a couple of instruments on the same floe (or at least one very nearby) that are still operational, and recording more of the on-going devastation of sea ice in the Beaufort (not the Barents, as you suggest).

One is Flux buoy AOFB 21, which records under-ice heat flux :
http://www.oc.nps.edu/~stanton/fluxbuoy/deploy/buoy21.html
which shows that the water around this area (this floe) has been warming up significantly lately.
If you check out the "Ocean heat content time series" you will find that under-ice (bottom melt) heat flux has been close to 100 W/m^2 which suggests some 2cm/day bottom and side melt has been going on for a while now.

Also, US Navy ice mass balance bouy 2010F is in the same location as Obuoy2 :
http://imb.crrel.usace.army.mil/2010F.htm
It reports rapid bottom melt lately, but unfortunately it's top-surface sounder is out of order.

Fortunately, US Navy bouy 2010E is operational and in the neighborhood :
http://imb.crrel.usace.army.mil/2010E.htm
It shows both top and bottom melt being very significant since the onset of the melt season.

In fact, 2010E is showing an amazing ice profile.
http://imb.crrel.usace.army.mil/irid_data/IMB9580_ice.png
This is (at least) 2nd year ice, which was a meter and a half by the end of last year's melting season. It grew to almost 2.5 meters in March, but it is now decimated in the timespan of a few weeks.

Also note that the CRREL bouys are updated only once a month.

[Neven]

Rob, thanks for this info. I'll be doing a post on this stuff this week. I'm looking a bit harder at MODIS images of the Beaufort region, and up close a lot of the ice looks a lot weirder than last year. It could be my monitor but I'm really seeing a lot of blue, grey and brown, and a lot less light white ice floes (I think that's MYI)dispersed through the rotten soup.

But it's hard to tell as it is very cloudy now, and last year even more cloudy. I think I'm going to try and find one point of focus, like Werther does with the ice North of Greenland and the CA.

[Espen]

I believe we only have hours left, with our 2 webcam friends at the pole.

Regards Espen

[Icestructure]

nice pics and the the fun talk L)

[Rob Dekker]

With OBouy2 and NOAA2 looking at the sky, which web cams do we have left over on the Arctic ice this year ? Only NOAA1 with her 80deg angle shot ?
Boy, oh boy. Couldn't they have put these web cams posts a bit deeper into the ice ?

[Seke Rob]

NOAA2 still function well to offer skyward views... blue... NOAA1 no different. That one has not tilted further.

On the DriftTrackMap noted an IABP BUOY and related Image at Flickr Pity all these special mission buoys don't all have a webcam aboard.

[Artful Dodger]

I think there are some form of animal tracks in the near-foreground (right edge) of the current NOAA1 webcam image (July 27, 2011 10:58 UTC)

Speculating, Arctic Fox perhaps? These are known to follow Polar Bears on the sea ice, so may be this far out from land.

[Neven]

Animals? There? Lodger, didn't I tell you to stop smoking that stuff? :-P

[Artful Dodger]

Animal tracks, Neven. You've spent to much time in Amsterdam! ;^)

[Rob Dekker]

Guys : Obuoy5 is switched on !

http://obuoy.datatransport.org/monitor

It's in the Beaufort getting ready for deployment in the 2011 Beaufort Gyre Expedition.

Here is the blog (updated daily by an enthausiastic member of the deployment team) :

http://www.o-buoy.org/?cat=6

Number five is alive !!

[Neven]

Awesome, Rob. I'll put the webcam image on the daily graphs page as soon as they put it on the ice.

[Seke Rob]

Not quite dead yet, both NOAA1 and NOAA2 are still transmitting, latter only sky... it's quasi sunny, and on NOAA1 it seems as if snow (?) has fallen recently:

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/npole/2011/images/noaa2-2011-0808-024810.jpg

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/npole/2011/images/noaa1-2011-0808-193257.jpg

Going by [url=http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/DriftTrackMap.html]the buoy location map[/url], just updated at 8.8.11, than the location has barely changed from the previous update on 7.21.11, still near 88N, and signs of aiming for Fram Strait too.

[Rob Dekker]

Hi Neven,
Obouy #5 is on the ice and operational.

A webcam image (updated every 10 minutes or so) is here :
http://obuoy.datatransport.org/data/obuoy/var/plots/buoy5/camera/webcam.jpg

And (similar to it's late sibbling), a mpg movie is created from these images :

http://obuoy.datatransport.org/data/obuoy/var/plots/buoy5/camera/buoy5-movie.mp4

Obuoy #5 is currently located at 78 N - 140 W, which is where UniBremen shows thick packice with >80% concentration. This ice will probably survive the melt season, so the webcam will likely not show the spectacular images and developments from it's late sibbling Obuoy #2, but still it will be interesting to keep an eye on.

Something for the daily graphs page ?

[Neven]

Thanks, Rob. I had forgotten about that OBuoy, although I do occasionally have a look at ice thicknesses on that other buoy map. Will it be updated around August 20th?

The webcam is added to the Daily Graphs page.

[idunno]

Hi Neven,

I know that we're expecting some species to migrate as climate changes, but isn't it a bit early for there to be a giraffe wandering about at the North Pole (Webcam 1)?

[Neven]

Haha! That must be the animal who made those tracks, eh? ;-)

Arctic giraffe...

[Seke Rob]

This is the 2012 resurrection... NOAA reorged a bit, but there are the usual 2 webcams with daily images from close to the 90th North (well, this early in the season)

http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/gallery_np.html

Enjoy a new series of 'cool' pics.

-- Rob