The small low in the Chukchi was dissipating. Another larger low was moving toward SHEBA ship from the west. A high pressure system occupied the coast east of Barrow. Cloud cover appeared to be breaking during the flight. The ship's radar showed a constant cloud top at 3.3 km. A corresponding drop in humidity above this level was picked up on the sounding. The satellite image shows a lot of structure indicating a lot of breaks in this cloud. The bright sides of clouds also can be seen in the visible image.
Barrow had some broken clouds. Most of the clouds were stratus and cirrus to the west and north. To the east toward the high pressure system, clouds along the coast were few and scattered.
The trajectories to SHEBA ship generally came from the Bering Sea curving through the Bering Straights from the surface to 3.0 km. The higher level air appeared to come from east of the ship in the Beaufort Sea.
The trajectories to Barrow also came mostly from the Bering Straights and western Alaska in the low level. Winds were light so the air did not travel long distances. Upper level trajectories indicated that the air came from the Chukchi and eastern Siberia.
