Atmospheric feedback explains disparate climate response to regional Arctic sea-ice loss

• Main Authors: Xavier J. Levine, Ivana Cvijanovic, Pablo Ortega, Markus G. Donat, Etienne Tourigny
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2021-05-01
• Series: npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-021-00183-w

Abstract Arctic sea-ice loss is a consequence of anthropogenic global warming and can itself be a driver of climate change in the Arctic and at lower latitudes, with sea-ice minima likely favoring extreme events over Europe and North America. Yet the role that the sea-ice plays in ongoing climate change remains uncertain, partly due to a limited understanding of whether and how the exact geographical distribution of sea-ice loss impacts climate. Here we demonstrate that the climate response to sea-ice loss can vary widely depending on the pattern of sea-ice change, and show that this is due to the presence of an atmospheric feedback mechanism that amplifies the local and remote signals when broader scale sea-ice loss occurs. Our study thus highlights the need to better constrain the spatial pattern of future sea-ice when assessing its impacts on the climate in the Arctic and beyond.