Beaufort Gyre

The Beaufort Gyre is one of the two major ice currents in the Arctic Ocean. It is located north of the Alaskan and Canadian coast. The Gyre has been crucial to the Last Ice Area where sea-ice is expected to persist even when other parts of the Arctic Ocean become ice-free in summer. Acting as a massive, clockwise-rotating ice stream, the Beaufort Gyre has been circulating sea-ice for several years, allowing the ice to survive multiple summer melts, leading to the formation of very thick multi-year ice. Historically, the Gyre is home to the oldest and thickest sea ice in the Arctic, with pressure ridges growing up to ten meters thick. In the last decades, the warming temperatures in the Arctic have caused an extensive loss of sea-ice in the gyre, leading to a decline in both - age and thickness. The decline of thick multi-year sea-ice in the Beaufort Gyre is linked to accelerating decline of sea-ice in the Arctic Ocean.

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