Enhanced Arctic sea-ice retreat due to pronounced pacificization effect in the Holocene
Future climate confronts major challenges due to ongoing Arctic sea-ice retreat. Notably, eventful sea-ice loss in the Holocene appears comparable circumstance, but associated physics remians poorly understood. Here we present a high-resolution and semi-quantitative reconstruction of sea-ice conditions over the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. A compilation of sea-ice reconstructions across the circum-Arctic characterizes a Pacific-side Arctic sea-ice melting event between 4.5 and 2.2 ka BP. Together with basin-wide paleoclimate records, satellite-derived and numerical modeling datasets, we attribute this sea-ice melting event to enhanced Bering Sea Inflow with stronger poleward transport of Pacific oceanic heat, which overcame long-term Holocene cooling trend likely linked to concurrently slowing Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Such Holocene-scale competition effect of ‘Pacificization v.s. Atlantification’ may conceptually explain the modern dipole pattern in Arctic sea-ice variation. In the warming future, projected more frequent La Niña circumstance could indicate enhanced Pacificization effect, leading to aggravated Pacific-side Arctic sea-ice retreat. Concurrent intensification of Bering Strait Inflow and associated stronger poleward heat caused a millennial-scale sea ice retreat in the Arctic, known as the ‘Pacificization’ effect, according to analysis of paleo-climate records, satellite-derived and modeling dataset of sea ice conditions.
Authors
- Xuefa Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8204-8021)
- Xun Gong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9308-4431)
- Aleksandr A. Bosin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3994-2623)
- Xiaotong Xiao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8416-2039)
- Yuriy P. Vasilenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2067-8869)
- Yuying Zhang
- Ruediger Stein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4453-9564)
- А. С. Астахов (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1288-0848)
- Yanguang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4524-2930)
- Gerrit Lohmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2089-733X)
- Jiang Dong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2767-3331)
- Meixun Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9450-6448)
- Limin Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0669-3456)
- Zhiying Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1900-6088)
Institutions
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Qilu University of Technology (CN)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- China University of Geosciences (CN)
- China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (CN)
- Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (CN)
- First Institute of Oceanography (CN)
- Institute of Oceanographic Instrumentation (CN)
- Shandong Academy of Sciences (CN)
- V.I. Il'ichev Pacific Oceanological Institute (RU)
- Ocean University of China (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Communications Earth & Environment
- Published
- 2025-10-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02796-y
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.30
Funders
- Jinan Science and Technology Bureau
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities