Sea ice fields and atmospheric phenomena in Eurasiatic arctic seas as seen from the NOAA-12 satellite

The image presented in this study is a mosaic showing the Barents and Kara seas area. It was processed from 1.1 km resolution NOAA-12 AVHRR data, acquired in the near-infrared band, on 17 June, 1994, 8h30 GMT and 19 June, 1994, 8h10 GMT. With the exception of the western and southern part of the Barents sea, all the area is cloud-free. Such an event is relatively seldom and enables us to observe diverse surface oceanic features, such as the sea ice distribution, the location of polynyas and the influence of warm waters, remnants of the North Atlantic Drift, on the ice held. The two days lag between the scenes allows us to observe the drifting of ice hoes, influenced by winds and currents, especially in the southern part of Franz Josef Land archipelago. Atmospheric lee-waves are observed at Hopen Island and westward of Bear Island.