More Frequent Atmospheric Rivers Are Hindering the Recovery of Arctic Sea Ice

Photo caption: Sea ice off the Alaskan village of Kotzebue. Photo courtesy of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Article by Columbia Climate School. State of the Planet – February 6, 2023. Article adapted from a Penn State University press release by Matthew Carroll.

The Arctic is rapidly losing sea ice, even during winter months, when temperatures are below freezing and ice should be recovering from the summer melt. Now, a new study in the journal Nature Climate Change has found that powerful storm systems called atmospheric rivers are partly responsible; the study finds they are increasingly reaching the Arctic in winter, slowing sea ice recovery and accounting for a third of all winter sea ice decline. […]

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