~Top of sea ice Final stages of a buoy before it floats on sea water.
June 13 2014, buoy 2014b sits on top of sea ice with heat taking hold of its surface fuelled by the sun:
2 weeks later, the sea becomes the heat sink:
Was it not for natures glorious , no brilliant! - latent heat of fusion point which changes as sea ice becomes saltier, the ice exists at higher temperatures than sea water! Now we've seen what happened, in a mere 2 weeks, sea ice owes its existence to sea water temperature, which is nearly constant. While soon there will be no more surface air heat to absorb , because top of sea ice is melting fast (40 cm in a week), while bottom tries to last. WD June 30, 2014