News Climate

Arctic sea ice may melt faster in coming years due to shifting winds

The ice is at the mercy of winds controlling where warmer Atlantic Ocean water goes 

Small patches of open water and thin ice cover the Fram Strait, which lies between Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago.

A wind pattern known as the Arctic Dipole helps control how much warm, salty Atlantic Ocean water enters the Arctic Ocean via the Fram Strait (shown) between Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. That influx of Atlantic water in turn influences the rate of Arctic sea ice melting.

deadlyphoto.com/Alamy Stock Photo

By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

A flip-flopping, yearslong pattern of winds helps control the fate of the Arctic’s sea ice — by regulating how much of the Atlantic Ocean’s relatively warm, salty water sneaks northward into the Arctic Ocean.