Massive Swells Detected in Once Frozen Arctic Ocean

Heavy surf isn't what's usually associated with the arctic ocean, mainly because in times past, most of it has been frozen. Well, according to the latest weather data, times appear to be changing. Researchers monitoring the Arctic's Beaufort Sea, an area just north of Alaska, have apparently just measured ocean swells as high as 16 feet. Swells as large as that could actually break up the rest of the Arctic ice faster than it can melt due to global warming. 

According to Washington Post, the giant swells were measured by Jim Thomson of the University of Washington and W. Erick Rogers from the Naval Research Laboratory in 2012, and were initially reported in Geophysical Research Letters. Thomson and Rogers' team used underwater sensing equipment that communicated its measurements to the scientists via satellite. 

"The observations reported here are the only known wave measurements in the central Beaufort Sea," their published report states, "because until recently the region remained ice covered throughout the summer and there were no waves to measure." 

Apparently, 16 feet was the average wave height during the a period of peak activity. According to Thomson the largest single wave measured was 9 meters, or about 29 feet. The average over the entire 2012 season was 3 to 6 feet. 

"In recent years, the seasonal ice retreat has expanded dramatically, leaving much of the Beaufort Sea ice free at the end of the summer," said Thomson. The areas of open water in the region apparently fluctuate "dramatically throughout the summer season, from essentially zero in April to well over 1000 km in September," according to the team's report. 

The additional energy contained in such large swells will "likely increase the pace of ice breakup in the region," reports the Post. This increase in the occurrence of giant ocean swells could--according to Thomson--produce an "ice-free summer, a remarkable departure from historical conditions in the Arctic, with potentially wide-ranging implications for the air-water-ice system and the humans attempting to operate there." 

Thomson said that though waves could accelerate the disappearance of arctic ice, he acknowledged he has yet to see direct evidence of it, but stated that 'the process is real." The team will begin a new project this summer in order to find out if a direct connection between the increased wave size and accelerated ice-melting actually exists.