Role of ice dynamics in anomalous ice conditions in the Beaufort Sea during 2006 and 2007

A new record minimum in summer sea ice extent was set in 2007 and an unusual polynya formed in the Beaufort Sea ice cover during the summer of 2006. Using a combination of visual observations from cruises, ice drift, and satellite passive microwave sea ice concentration, we show that ice dynamics during preceding years included events that preconditioned the Beaufort ice pack for the unusual patterns of opening observed in both summers. Intrusions of first year ice from the Chukchi Sea to the Northern Beaufort, and increased pole‐ward ice transport from the western Arctic during summer has led to reduced replenishment of multiyear ice, older than five years, in the western Beaufort, resulting in a younger, thinner ice pack in most of the Beaufort. We find ice younger than five years melts out completely by the end of summer, south of 76N. The 2006 unusual polynya was bounded to the south by an ice tongue composed of sea ice older than 5 years, and formed when first year and second year ice melted between 76N and the older ice to the south. In this paper we demonstrate that a recent shift in ice circulation patterns in the western Arctic preconditions the Beaufort ice pack for increased seasonal ice zone extent.