Figure 5. Ice concentration derived from SSM/I passive microwave radiometer data for December 1995 to March 1996. The light blue colour that sometimes covers most of the ocean area indicates either ice or contamination by precipitation/clouds.

Figure 6. Ice concentration derived from SSM/I passive microwave radiometer data for March 1996 to June 1996. The light blue colour that sometimes covers most of the ocean area indicates either ice or contamination by precipitation/clouds.
 
 
 

Figure 7. Ice concentration derived from SSM/I passive microwave radiometer data for June 1996 to September 1996. The light blue colour that sometimes covers most of the ocean area indicates either ice or contamination by precipitation/clouds.

The preceding paragraph describes areal changes within the 'Odden box', but some of these changes are due to the main ice edge of the East Greenland Current migrating eastward rather than to the growth of an Odden ice tongue as such. As can be seen from Figure 5, the Odden tongue originated in January as a meander in the main ice edge (e.g on January 22-27 it is the second of three such meanders within the 'Odden box'). This meander then grew eastward during February and March so as to become a distinct dominant ice tongue, reaching Jan Mayen in early March. Later in March we have a reduction in ice cover followed by a rapid expansion in late March and early April. During April, the ice cover again almost disappears north of Jan Mayen, but returns in early May with a maximum around May 8. Figures 6 and 7 show how ice remains in the area until early August. As was seen from Figure 2, this late development of the ice was extraordinary compared to the previous 17 years. Only once, in 1981, have comparable amounts of ice been present in June and July, although in 1987 old ice was present in a tongue late in May and was profiled by submarine (Wadhams, 1992).

Figure 8. Ice conditions in the Greenland Sea on July 14, 1981 and on July 23, 1993.

In Figure 8, the ice situation in July 1981 and in a more typical year, 1993, can be seen.

During the 1996 winter period, the Odden encompassed the island of Jan Mayen on several occasions, and for substantial parts of the winter the ice edge was close to the island. In the following section, meteorological observations from Jan Mayen will be presented for comparison and explanation of the ice development.