Mal­mö in the ice The­re are 35 % less ice in the who­le Arc­tic Oce­an than usu­al (a term that will most likely have to be re-defi­ned soon), but in Sval­bard, ice con­di­ti­ons are more as they used to be in ear­lier years. This means that nor­the­as­tern parts of Nord­aus­t­land did not beco­me ice-free at all this sum­mer, and the­re is drift ice in sou­thern Hin­lo­pen Strait and south of Nord­aus­t­land.

The small pas­sen­ger ship Mal­mö got stuck in drift ice in sou­thern Hin­lo­pen Strait. The ship is stron­gly built and can tole­ra­te some ice, but the situa­ti­on beca­me poten­ti­al­ly dan­ge­rous when curr­ents moved the ice field towards shal­low waters in the area of Rønn­be­ckøya­ne, a group of small islands in sou­thern Hin­lo­pen. The­re were 23 per­sons on board, inclu­ding 16 pas­sen­gers. The Sys­sel­man­nen deci­ded to evacua­te the pas­sen­gers by helico­per. The crew could remain on board to take care of the ves­sel as the­re was no imme­dia­te dan­ger. It is expec­ted that the crew can navi­ga­te the ship out of the ice with the shif­ting tides, some­thing that usual­ly invol­ves ope­nings in the ice. The Nor­we­gi­an coast guard is in the area to assist as nee­ded.

drift ice in the arc­tic sum­mer of 2019 – Pho­to on the sub­ject of Mal­mö in the ice