Abstract
Arctic Sea Ice![Figure][1] Sea ice near Kulusuk, Greenland PHOTO: ©INCAMERASTOCK/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO How does atmospheric circulation affect the initiation of seasonal melting of Arctic sea ice? Mortin et al. examined 35 years of satellite and meteorological data to tease out the general controls and explain the large annual variability in timing. They found that melt onset is triggered by high water vapor, clouds, and air temperatures, which act to increase the amount of long-wave radiation down-welling to the ice surface. Early melts occur when these conditions persist for weeks beforehand because of changes in springtime atmospheric moisture transport. Geophys. Res. Lett. 10.1002/2016GL069330 (2016). [1]: pending:yes
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