In many respects, 2013 seemed cold and rainy at Cape Bounty. After the past five years where we have routinely had warm, sunny conditions and little summer rainfall, 2013 seemed like a throwback to the past, almost like the Little Ice Age of the 19th century. The ice on the West and East Lakes seemed to support this notion, and were frustratingly uncooperative with our plans to carry out detailed side-scan sonar and sediment acoustic surveys in late July and early August. We were reasonably successful with the East Lake, where the ice broke up substantially during the period we were working, but the West Lake skunked us completely. In most respects, 2013 was still an above average summer in terms of mean temperatures and rainfall. It is just that compared to recent years, it did not feel as warm.
One of the nice things about working with a diverse research group is that you get to see your own work through a different lens. This image, from Canada's Radarsat 2 was taken on August 9, 2013, a week after we left the camp at Cape Bounty. It clearly shows the residual ice on both lakes, and indicates that we would have still been waiting for the ice to clear on the West Lake.
Interestingly, you can still see ice pans on the ocean as well, although the ice cover usually reaches a minimum in mid-September.
Thanks to Ashley Rudy for the image (courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency).
