Applied Physics Laboratory-UW

Antarctic sea ice has behaved unexpectedly: growing for decades, then suddenly shrinking after 2016.
Using nearly two decades of data collected by hundreds of robotic floats drifting under sea ice, Ethan Campbell, Postdoctoral Scholar, APL-UW / Polar Science Center-UW, and colleagues explain how an abundance of precipitation freshened the ocean surface before 2016, trapping ocean heat below and allowing sea ice to expand. Then, stronger winds drove upwelling that broke through this ‘lid’, releasing ocean heat and triggering sea ice melt.

https://lnkd.in/gxrd6x8C

As sea ice declines, more sunlight is reaching the Arctic Ocean, making it brighter and warmer. Over the past 40 years the added heat has melted 1 meter of Arctic sea ice. Melinda Webster, Principal Oceanographer, APL-UW Polar Science Center-UW, and her co-authors explain how these changes could reshape the polar marine ecosystem, especially in the southern Arctic regions where the solar heating is strongest.

Read the details here: "A Brighter Arctic Ocean: Trends in Solar Partitioning in the Arctic Sea Ice - Ocean System From 1984 to 2024"
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL120478