South of the loosely packed ice in the northern part of the sea, parallel rows of clouds line up along the north-south axis of the wind. These “streets” of clouds form when cold air blows over the warmer, moister air that sits over the water.
At mid- and high latitudes during the winter, clouds often form neat, parallel rows. Called cloud streets, these formations can persist for hundreds of kilometers if the land or water surface underneath is uniform.
New elevation measurements will give researchers an unprecedented understanding of the thickness of sea ice, which will be used to help improve climate modeling and forecasts.