Uk Sea Surface Temperatures

[Guest]

As far as I remember, I was plotting the charts at the time but the eastern side of the North Sea in the area of the Heliogoland certainly got down to +3c (this struck me because as I understood it and still understand it, it was below the magic 4C where water is at its most dense, meaning the bottom levels must have dropped to 4C, thereby reducing the vertical movements of waters at different temperatures) but owing to the passage of time I cannot recall much more.

[Richard Lake]

Side by Side: 15th and 17th

Signs that the Baltic Sea is freezing even further and colder waters are spreading even more across the North Sea into NE England.

Waters north of the Shetlands are cooling marginally as well.

As for the Atlantic Ocean, the 10c line is moving a fair bit north, but at the same time 7.5c line is spreading further out of the Irish Sea.

Courtesy of makeagif.com

Edited January 17, 2010 by rikki

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Thanks for the makeagif link!

Thanks Mike for introducing us to the "magic" 4C number. At the moment it looks like a small part of the Heliogoland region is 3C or below.

I suppose if any region next to the UK were to reach this number first it would be The Wash. The London Estuary region presumably is kept milder by a warm feed from the Channel.

Here's a gif of the last 5 days - Retrieved 14th-18th, meaning these gifs show days 13th-17th Jan.

Next time I do a gif I'll add dates so you know when it starts and begins. I might also colour out the signs. gif 5 is where the 5C region becomes attenuated. You can also follow the progression by looking at the development of the cold pool off the coast of Norway to the top right of the image.

[Richard Lake]

Thanks for the makeagif link!

Next time I do a gif I'll add dates so you know when it starts and begins. I might also colour out the signs. gif 5 is where the 5C region becomes attenuated. You can also follow the progression by looking at the development of the cold pool off the coast of Norway to the top right of the image.

Yeah, its brilliant isn't it. Thought you would like it. Google FTW.

Yeah dates on each frame would be straight forward enough as when it plays back you have no idea which frame is being showing. Bare in mind the maximum no. of frames is 12; which is a little shame as I would be tempted to record the whole winter season. Do you generally not post on a Sat/Sun or was last weekend a one-off?

Edited January 18, 2010 by rikki

[Optimus Prime]

Sea temperatures look interesting;

Perfect for a very cold easterly.

[Snowyowl9]

Only needs a slightly cold easterly looking at that.

Cold today E/NE wind and 2.5c

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Is this the collapse of the El Nino? +2.99 anomaly early Jan now down to +2.57. The Nino that never harmed us.

http://weather.unisys.com/surface/sst_anom.gif

BFTP

[phil nw.]

Sea temperatures look interesting;

Perfect for a very cold easterly.

Indeed it`s also very noticeable how the Gulf Stream is running below average.

This map of current sea temps. shows this quite well.

The "bulge"of Warmer water that normally flows from the South West towards the North of the UK has been greatly modified this Winter.

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Do you generally not post on a Sat/Sun or was last weekend a one-off?

I've a fair few other interests so my time here correlates very strongly with how cold the charts are looking :blink:

I'm going to try and keep this thread running into March though. Happy for everyone else to continue to contribute with their imagery.

[kold weather]

Looks like some warming over our part of the North sea recently however now we are heading back into a colder cycle I'm willing to bet those colder SST's will build back, and also SST's to our north will probably cool somewhat as well...

AFT...would it be possible to do something similar over the next 7-10 days in the Baltic, I think odds are very good for the Baltic to totally freeze over given the flow looks cold at the surface there for some time to come, plus any easterly going over frozen water is going to barely modify at all, obviously every little helps...

For the first time in a very long time, the SST's will support an attempt at a sub zero month IF the synoptics stay cold for long enough...

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

Yes the right synoptics and we will be very very cold. I think that supports HP to our northern quandrant. Also look at El Nino, down to 2.48.....its all over folks and collapsing fast.

BFTP

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Okay, will record the Baltic. It's a nice image. Highest 2.5C.

[AtlanticFlamethrower]

Not much change in the Baltic sea - some ice growth very noticeable between Denmark and Sweden. Is that even an ice bridge?

Also some cooling in the region NW of the British Isles.

[osmposm]

.....AFT, would it be possible to do something similar over the next 7-10 days in the Baltic, I think odds are very good for the Baltic to totally freeze over given the flow looks cold at the surface there for some time to come...

I wrote a long post a week or so ago discussing Baltic freezing, but it disappeared into a cyber black hole, and I couldn't face putting it together again!

Even then the chances of a Baltic freezeover were small - the freezing was pretty close to the long-term 'normal', and full freezing has always been very rare. The situation now is pretty much the same http://www.itameriportaali.fi/en/itamerinyt/en_GB/jaatilanne/#middle - very close to 'normal', though it's many years since even that was true. If you click on 'Previous Ice Map' you can also see there's been little change to the cover in the last week - it's reduced a little in some areas, though in others it's got a bit thicker. The full ice chart http://www.itameriportaali.fi/html/icef/jaakartta.pdf shows that the temp has dropped in most of the large unfrozen area between Sweden & the Baltic States to between +1 & +3C - a week ago it was more like +2 to +4....but it's still a long way off freezing, and I very much doubt it will. Even the narrow passages between the Danish islands & across to Sweden are largely unfrozen, though the sea is of course saltier there (the Baltic has fresher water the further away from the North Sea you go).

Edited February 10, 2010 by osmposm

[Optimus Prime]

Baltics also heavily polluted, one of the most polluted seas in the world. The substances there would probably have some small effect in preventing ice building up unless it's very cold.

[Geordiesnow]

Could someone post the latest North Sea temperature charts, please? It will be interesting if the North Sea has cooled further with cold air hanging around there for a little while now. :lol:

[Helvellyn]

i'd be interested to see as well. i'm guessing that the north sea will be reaching it's coldest state soon (late feb/early march?) since the days are getting longer and the sun rapidly increasing in strength.

[osmposm]

Things still pretty cold up in the Baltic. New ice has now formed among the Danish islands and over to Sweden, with apparently a continuous, if thin cover country-to-country: http://www.itameriportaali.fi/html/icef/icemap_c.pdf .

In the northern Baltic the overall situation remains the iciest for many years, and mostly above 'normal' (though there are signs of a retreat at the Estonian [southern] shore of the Gulf of Finland): http://www.itameriportaali.fi/en/itamerinyt/en_GB/jaatilanne/#middle .

Most of the large unfrozen area east of southern Sweden and west of the Baltic states is now down to 1-2C, but significant freezing will certainly not happen there now.

Sorry, can't help with the North Sea charts, I don't know where they're to be found - why not send AFT a PM for the link?