Teshekpuk is ice free already

Based on observations from satellites, we have reconstructed the window in which Teshekpuk becomes ice-free each summer since 1974.  July 20th would be this day in a typical year over this period. But this summer Teshekpuk became ice free by the last day of June! The above average mean temperature for the month of June (43 degrees F as measured at the TLO) likely had something to do with the incredibly early ice off in 2015.  It will be interesting to see what this early ice off means in terms of potentially heightened shoreline erosion of the permafrost bluffs that surround the lake.

MODIS satellite image from 30 June 2015.