Figure 1. Sea ice forming on the shores of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

Ocean Networks Canada’s (ONC) cabled observatory in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut has been gathering real-time oceanographic data since 2012. This year, the data reveals that sea ice freeze-up occurred on 27 October, the latest date in eight years of monitoring the Arctic Ocean. By comparison, since 2012 the mean or average date of freeze-up is 5 October, a full three weeks earlier than 2020.

Figure 2: This climatology plot shows eight years...