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IMAGE: Researchers aboard the research vessel Mirai watched water vapor rise from the Chukchi Sea, resembling the mist that rises from a hot bath in a cold room. The Pacific Ocean. view more
Credit: Photo by Jun Inoue, National Institute of Polar Research, CC BY-SA.
Experts in Japan recently discovered that atmospheric conditions near Alaska can affect sea ice conditions in the Arctic Ocean months later. The team used various data, including ship-based data from 2018, to uncover how a single atmospheric event over the northern Pacific Ocean caused significantly delayed sea ice formation in the Pacific Arctic region. Global warming is going on, so the global mean surface air temperature is increasing, but compared to that trend, the Arctic is warming twice or more as fast, said Assistant Professor Tsubasa Kodaira, first author of the recent research publication and an expert in applied physical oceanography from the University of Tokyo.