Arctic ice pack

The shifting mass of sea ice covering parts of the Arctic Ocean, expanding in winter and shrinking in summer. It consists of floating ice rather than ice attached to land.

Connect

Sea ice: Frozen seawater that floats at the ocean surface and forms in polar and other cold regions. The Arctic ice pack is the large, shifting regional system made up of sea ice.
Ice floe: A discrete, relatively flat piece of floating sea ice, ranging from meters to kilometers across. Floe size and arrangement shape the pack’s surface structure.
Arctic shipping: The movement of commercial, scientific, and other vessels through Arctic waters. The pack’s extent, thickness, and drift determine when and where ships can travel.
Antarctic sea ice: Floating sea ice that forms seasonally around Antarctica and varies greatly in extent through the year. It surrounds a continent, while Arctic sea ice covers an ocean basin.
Ice–albedo feedback: A climate feedback in which melting reflective ice exposes darker surfaces that absorb more solar energy, encouraging further warming and melting. Shrinking ice cover lowers Arctic reflectivity and can amplify regional warming.
Sea-ice growth: The formation and thickening of sea ice as ocean water loses heat in cold conditions. Winter growth adds new ice to the pack and thickens existing floes.
First-year sea ice: Sea ice that has not survived a summer melt season since its formation. Much of the seasonal pack consists of ice formed during the preceding winter.
Northern Sea Route: A shipping route along Russia’s Arctic coast connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Seasonal changes in the pack affect access and navigation along this route.
Ice sheet: A continental-scale mass of glacial ice resting on land and flowing outward under its own weight. Unlike an ice sheet, the Arctic pack floats on seawater.
Arctic amplification: The tendency for the Arctic to warm faster than the global average. Sea-ice loss and the resulting heat exchanges contribute to this regional warming pattern.