Temporal evolution of Hudson Bay Sea Ice (1971-2011)

Previous work has found Hudson Bay seasonal sea ice particularly sensitive to climate change with a strong signal of earlier breakup dates. This work extends the previous analysis by including eight additional years of recent sea ice data. The expanded sea ice record, 1971 to 2011, revealed stronger and more statistically significant trends than the earlier work, most strikingly for the later freeze up. The average magnitude of the temporal trend for all 36 locations studied is 0.50 days/year for earlier breakup, 0.46 days/year for the later freeze-up, and 0.91 days/year for longer ice-free period. Of the 36 points, 12 points for the breakup period, 30 points for the freeze-up period, and 22 points for the ice-free season have accelerating temporal trends during the past decade.