Articles about an Arctic heat wave and record lows in sea ice have covered the news over the past month with many climate scientists linking the unseasonable weather to anthropogenically-induced climate change. During November sea ice extent was at a record low (1.95 million km2 below the 1981-2010 average) and even declined by 50,000 km2 during the middle of the month, an exceptional occurrence.
While North Pole temperatures have been significantly higher than average and are expected to be up to 20°C higher than previous Christmas Eve temperatures, continental areas (Alaska and Siberia) have been unseasonally cold. This complies with the controversial idea 'Warm Arctic, Cold Continents' in which changes to the Arctic atmosphere (due to warming and sea ice loss) alter large-scale atmospheric patterns and effectively the cold and warm air masses are swapped.
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| Daily Arctic sea ice extent for 2012-2016 against the 1981-2010 average (NSIDC, 2016) |
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| Monthly November Arctic sea ice extent from 1978-2016 (NSIDC, 2016) |
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