A Year in the Changing Arctic Sea Ice

Abstract

Faced with a declining summer sea ice extent, enhanced warming relative to the rest of the globe, altered ecosystem dynamics, shifts in circulation and hydrological patterns, amplifying feedbacks, and potential looming tipping points, the Arctic system is in a transitional state that is at the epicenter of global climate change. As the Arctic transforms, we are challenged to understand the processes involved and to construct the tools and models that will help us predict and manage those changes as they continue to evolve in coming decades. It is upon this backdrop of rapid change that the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC 2019–2020) expedition ventured into the central Arctic sea ice (Shupe et al., 2020). It was an expedition to collect sorely needed observations and to examine the changing Arctic in a new way, with an unprecedented level of detail.