must be made before consistent "behavior" or pre- 

 dirtion formulas can be developed. In order to un- 

 ravel and to assign quantitative values to each factor 

 or even realistically to group efFects contributing to 

 the ice regime, if may well be necessary to extend 

 measurement stations to several strategic points within 

 the system. A minimum requirement for evaluation of 

 the Bering Strait/Chukchi Sea system appears to be 

 coordinated oceanographic measurements from Wales 

 and from a northern station located at Point Hope 

 or Cape Lisburne. 



SEA ICE GROWTH 



The first slush ice formation off Wales, Alaska, 

 appears from mid-October to mid-November with 

 variable states of slush-pancake-young ice and open 

 water combinations existing until the first or second 

 week of December when ice accretion becomes more 



uniform, with growth of the solid state continuing 

 ■ until the later part of April to early May. The heat 

 budget then reverses with the break-up progressing 

 rapidly throughout late May and the first two weeks 

 of June. By July the area is free of fast and drift ice 

 except for a few scattered growlers. 



The land-fast ice sheet is variable in width from 

 1 to V2 mile, with the sea ice beyond the fast ice 

 in continual motion throughout the winter season. 

 Typical ice conditions during January in the eastern 

 Bering Strait are illustrated in figure 14. 



The rate of growth of sea ice was measured in 

 the fast ice at a point V2 mile offshore during the 

 1952-1953 and the 1953-1954 ice seasons. Thickness 

 was determined by drilling 1 '/2-inch holes with an 

 auger-type corer and measuring the sheet with a 

 calibrated rod constructed with a spring-loaded arm 

 designed to project against the underside of the ice 

 upon release from the boundaries of the drill hole. 





■""Sr-^ 'o^^ymm^ 





Figure 14. Area between Wales and Diomede Islands illustrating January ice conditions. Fast ice is the 

 dark portion in the lower part of the photograph. All light ice moving north. 



15 



