Polar bears and pack ice, must be spring!

In Iceland, its the song of the golden plover that marks spring. In Paris its the blooming trees and strawberries.

In South Greenland, its the arrival of pack ice from East Greenland, and with it the polar bears. I took this photo outside our house early morning, showing our harbour closed off by ice which arrived during the night.

My wife and I thought we'd make use of the lovely day, warm and no wind. 

She went about the yard, I cut some timber planks, gave them a coat of oil and slow drying paint. 

During dinner, clouds pulled in, and my still drying coat of oil is now buried  below 25 cm of snow. With the pack ice, you get snow... seems I need to re-learn this every year. The ice survey helicopter report lots of polar bears outside town. Same story, every year :-)

And here is the local Sea Ice chart, to compare with the images above. As usual, the danish system does not think it necessary to chart the ice inside islands and fjords (where people live):

For instructions on how to read sea ice charts, see previous blog.