EAPS

Title: Warming of the interior Arctic Ocean linked to sea ice losses at the
basin margins

Abstract: Arctic Ocean measurements reveal a near doubling of ocean heat content
in the central Canada Basin halocline over the past three decades.
This warming is linked to anomalous solar heating of surface waters at
a boundary region of the basin, which is the main entryway for
halocline waters to join the central basin. Summer solar heat
absorption by the surface waters has increased fivefold over the same
time period, chiefly because of reduced sea ice cover. I will show how
the solar heating is sufficient to account for the observed halocline
warming. This means that heat absorption at the basin margins and its
subsequent accumulation in the ocean interior have consequences for
central basin sea ice beyond the summer season.