Record winter winds in 2020/21 drove exceptional Arctic sea ice transport

Abstract The volume of Arctic sea ice is in decline but exhibits high interannual variability, which driven primarily by atmospheric circulation. Through analysis satellite-derived products and reanalysis data, we show that winter 2020/21 was characterised anomalously sea-level pressure over the central Ocean, resulted unprecedented anticyclonic winds ice. This circulation pattern drove older from Ocean into lower-latitude Beaufort Sea, where it more vulnerable to melting coming warm season. We suggest this unusual may potentially lead unusually summer losses Arctic’s remaining store old