Photo: Annie Spratt
The Wandel Sea, just north of Greenland, used to be full of old, thick sea ice. But in August of 2020 the ice was thin and there was plenty of open water thanks in part to climate change. Because a circular ocean current, the Beaufort Gyre, tends to keep ice trapped in the area, climate models had predicted that it will likely retain ice as warming causes the rest of the Arctic Ocean to become ice-free in summers, providing a last summer refuge for polar bears and other Arctic wildlife dependent on sea ice. Unfortunately what happened last summer may well be the norm in coming decades.
www.nytimes.com/2021/07/01/climate/arctic-sea-ice-climate-change.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Climate%20and%20Environment