1.Previous
3.Next

In the Beaufort Gyre, free-floating sea ice, which is very mobile and susceptible to winds, drifts in a clockwise direction due to a high-pressure system that fosters anti-cyclonic winds. Historically, the sea ice drifted around the gyre for up to ten years, growing thicker and ageing into so-called multiyear ice, while accumulating snow and ice each winter. This process used to supply the Arctic with extensive multiyear sea ice coverage. Warming temperatures and increased melt in the Beaufort Sea in the

1.Previous
3.Next