Old Weather Forum

https://www.ushistory.org/betsy/images/ntp13b.pdf wrote: On occasions of full-dress ship, in addition to dressing the mastheadswith the U.S. or foreign national ensign(s), a rainbow of signal flags andpennants, arranged in the order prescribed herein, shall be displayed. Therainbow shall reach from the foot of the jackstaff to the mastheads and thence tothe foot of the flagstaff. Pecularily masted or mastless ships shall make adisplay as little modified from the rainbow effect as is practicable.

http://navyaviation.tpub.com/14243/css/Dressing-And-Full-Dressing-Ship-201.htm wrote:When dressing or full-dressing ship, the largest national ensign with which the ship is furnished is displayed from the flagstaff and, except as prescribed for a ship displaying a personal flag or command pennant, a national ensign is displayed from each masthead. The national ensigns displayed at the mastheads should be of uniform size but smaller than the one at the flagstaff. If there is a substantial difference in heights of mastheads, however, a difference in the size of the national ensigns is appropriate.
When the ship is full-dressed, mastheads are dressed as described in the preceding paragraph, In addition, a rainbow of signal flags is displayed, reaching from the foot of the jackstaff to the mastheads, then to the foot of the flagstaff.

A vast area of the Arctic Ocean remains ice free as November begins, far later in the season than is typical. The monthly average ice extent for October is the lowest in the satellite record. On October 24, a record difference was set in daily ice extent relative to the 1981 to 2010 average. Large heat transfers from the open water to the atmosphere have manifested as above-average air temperatures near the surface of the ocean.

Sea ice extent for October 2020 was 5.28 million square kilometers (2.04 million square miles), placing it lowest in the satellite record for the month. This was 3.07 million square kilometers (1.19 million square miles) below the 1981 to 2010 October average and 450,000 square kilometers (173,700 square miles) below the record low mark for October set in 2019. October 2020 is the largest departure from average conditions seen in any month thus far in the satellite record, falling 3.69 standard deviations below the 1981 to 2010 mean. Ice extent is far below average in all of sectors of the Eurasian side of the Arctic Ocean and in Baffin Bay.