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CLIMATE DYNAMICS

Midlatitudes unaffected by sea ice loss

Climate scientists cannot agree on what caused a recent spate of severe winters over North America and Eurasia. Now, a simple yet powerful physics-based approach makes it clear that record-low Arctic sea ice coverage was not the root cause.

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Fig. 1: Periods of large sea ice loss in the Arctic coincident with large midlatitude cooling.

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Correspondence to John C. Fyfe.

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Fyfe, J.C. Midlatitudes unaffected by sea ice loss. Nat. Clim. Chang. 9, 649–650 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-019-0560-3

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