Revisiting the Last Ice Area projections from a high-resolution Global Earth System Model
(Madeleine Fol, Bruno Tremblay, Stephanie Pfirman, Robert Newton, Stephen Howell, Jean-Fran莽ois Lemieux)
The Last Ice Area鈥攍ocated to the north of Greenland and the northern Canadian Arctic Archipelago鈥攊s expected to persist as the central Arctic Ocean becomes seasonally ice-free within a few decades. Projections of the Last Ice Area, however, have come from relatively low resolution Global Climate Models that do not resolve sea ice export through the waterways of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Nares Strait. Here we revisit Last Ice Area projections using high-resolution numerical simulations from the Community Earth System Model, which resolves these narrow waterways. Under a high-end forcing scenario, the sea ice of the Last Ice Area thins and becomes more mobile, resulting in a large export southward. Under this potentially worst-case scenario, sea ice of the Last Ice Area could disappear a little more than one decade after the central Arctic Ocean has reached seasonally ice-free conditions. This loss would have profound impacts on ice-obligate species.
Fol, M., Tremblay, B., Pfirman, S.听et al.听Revisiting the Last Ice Area projections from a high-resolution Global Earth System Model.听Commun Earth Environ听6, 46 (2025).