This Quicktime animation is the director's cut (Director: Andy Mahoney, UAF) of the latter part of the ice season and spring break-up as observed by the Barrow Sea Ice Cam. The mark at the top provides an approximate indication of the progression of time (with approximately 2 images saved per day).

For the first few weeks of May, little change is noticeable at the ice surface, since temperatures are still well below freezing. The piling of ice and gravel in the foreground is not a natural process but a result of road clearing efforts by Ilisagvik College. Note, however, how meltdown of this dark, highly absorbing ice precedes the onset of surface melt on the cleaner, snow-covered fast-ice surface by a few days. In early June, the first meltwater layers and ponds appear at the surface of the ice cover. In late June, a moat develops nearshore, which is closed again as a result of the ice-push event of June 26. The ice push (forced by the transmission of large-scale stresses from the offshore pack ice) not only resulted in the build-up of a small ridge at the beach but also led to buckling and ridging inshore of the pressure ridges at the far end of the picture. By mid-July, the level fast-ice cover has melted all the way through in most spots, leaving a few thicker pieces of ice freely floating in the nearshore waters behind the grounded ridges visible in the background. It is these ridges that prevent drifting ice from closing in on the shoreline in late July. Finally, in early August melting of the ridged ice has progressed far enough for the remnants to be blown out to sea.