Pacific inflow carries seasonally warm water through the Bering Strait into the western Arctic. Much of this heat lies higher in the water column than the warm Atlantic layer, making it more accessible to the ice in the Pacific sector. Its path, timing, temperature and volume transport affect basal melting and delayed freeze-up. Shimada and collaborators' 2006 observations associate warm Pacific summer water with regional ice loss; they do not imply that it explains all Arctic loss.
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