SuperUser Account Tuesday, May 31, 2016 / Categories: Research Headlines, Arctic , Climate, 2016 New study: Sea ice loss likely no factor in cold Northern Hemisphere winters The rapid loss of Arctic sea ice is a major driver of the warming trend sweeping across the Arctic in recent years, but melting sea ice is probably not behind recent cold winters in parts of Europe, Asia, and the United States, according to a new NOAA study. Paradoxically, accelerated warming of the Arctic has coincided in recent years with several unusually cold winters in the Northern Hemisphere’s mid-latitude continents. This winter weather pattern has been referred to as “Warm Arctic, cold continents,” and some scientists theorize that it’s being driven by the loss of sea ice. Instead, the cold winters appear to be within the range of natural variation, said lead author Lantao Sun, a researcher with NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science at the University of Colorado. The researchers did find a link between Arctic sea ice loss and mid-latitude weather, however. “Our results suggest that the southward moving Arctic air masses are simply less cold, on average,” said co-author Martin Hoerling, a NOAA scientist. The paper was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. That means extremely cold winters over the Northern Hemisphere will become less likely as the climate warms, the scientists say. Learn more about this research. For more information, please contact Theo Stein, NOAA Communications, theo.stein@noaa.gov, (303) 497-6288. Previous Article Arctic set for record-breaking melt this summer Next Article Scientists deploy autonomous sailing vessels to study whales, fish and seals Print 9599 Tags: climate Arctic Climate Change Related articles Study of wildfire plumes provide insights into methods that might cool the planet NOAA’s Climate Program Office announces 2021 Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellows 6 ways NOAA scientists advanced our knowledge of the planet in 2020 5 ways NOAA scientists are answering big questions about climate change Giant Australian bushfire injected 1 million tons of smoke in the atmosphere