A team of scientists theorize that global warming is the culprit behind increased waviness in these global wind currents and the severe weather that results.
Meandering waves that connect jet streams to global warming miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
E-Mail
IMAGE: The Korean icebreaker Araon, which unexpectedly found itself in an Arctic cyclone in 2016, unlocked the key to how these storms wreak havoc on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. view more
Credit: Photo by Joo-Hong Kim, Korea Polar Research Institute
In August 2016 a massive storm on par with a Category 2 hurricane churned in the Arctic Ocean. The cyclone led to the third-lowest sea ice extent ever recorded. But what made the Great Arctic Cyclone of 2016 particularly appealing to scientists was the proximity of the Korean icebreaker Araon.
For the first time ever, scientists were able to see exactly what happens to the ocean and sea ice when a cyclone hits. University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers and their international colleagues recently published a new study showing that sea ice declined 5.7 times faster than normal during the storm. They were also able to prove that the rapid decline was driven by cyclone-triggered processes within the ocean.